A Pilgrimage to Israel

INTRODUCTION Once in a lifetime, the Lord may give you a unique opportunity to meet him in a very special way. The opportunity to travel to Israel and learn from Dr. Randall (Randy) Smith and his associate, friend and tour guide Shlomo ben-Asher was our fate.

Randy is an extremely gifted teacher whose knowledge of the Bible is unequaled. He is also a walking, talking Britannica Encyclopedia with a rare and extraordinary ability to reference and quote from any book of the Bible. In addition to his immense Biblical knowledge, Randy’s love and appreciation of art and history combined with his humor and humility made this a very special trip indeed.

The experience of walking the land and immersing ourselves in its history has given the Bible a completely different meaning for us. As you read through this book and immerse yourself in the analysis and content, we encourage you to always keep in mind that the Bible was written 2,000 years ago for middle easterners living under Roman domain. Once you possess this appreciation and understanding, it will make a big difference to how you interpret the words both in this book and the Bible itself.

The Israel experience was also very special in another way. We began the pilgrimage as 24 individuals, but returned to Charlotte, North Carolina united as one family. We were fortunate to collectively experience a gift from God and we will never be the same when we see each other at church or other places.

The book is our attempt at combining the massive amount of notes, audio recordings and photographs that were taken during the two weeks in Israel, in order to keep the experience fresh and alive in our memories.

Having been given this wonderful opportunity, it is now up to each of us to decide how to use this gift to His glory.

Jerrold and Amanda

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CONTENTS Building a Foundation       

Pages 1 - 19

A Brief Overview of the Holy Land The Roman Empire Understanding the Meaning of Tradition The Five Key Storylines that Flow Through the Bible The Gospels by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John The Highways and People of Israel An Overview of the Life and Ministry of Jesus o o o

Pre-Ministry Popular Ministry Parting Ministry

Day One – Conflicts of Jesus 

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Pages 20 – 51

Caesarea Maritima     

The City of Caesarea The Four Teams Needed to Take a City Supplying Caesarea with Water Prominent in Church History Caesarea and Cornelius

Mount Carmel   

The Story of Elijah and Elisha st The Four Stories of 1 Kings 18 The Mission Impossible Assignment

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Tel Megiddo Zippori

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Nazareth

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Summary of Day One

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The Mishnah – or Mishna The Church of the Annunciation

Day Two – Getting to Know the 12 Disciples 

Meet the Disciples

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The Sea of Galilee

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Pages 52 – 85

The Seven Things You Need to Know About the Disciples Northwest Galilee – Devout Jews Northeast Galilee – Zealots Western Galilee – Herodians Eastern Galilee – Pagans

Mount Beatitudes   

What Does a Disciple Look Like?

The Three Laws Understanding Jesus’ Five Audiences

Korazin  

Life in Korazin Moses’ Seat

Capernaum    

The House of Peter The Rules of Engagement The Roles of Jesus’ Bride The Epistles

Nof Ginnosaur Tiberias The Kibbutz Kinneret Cemetery On the Sea of Galilee 

The Lessons of the Book of Exodus

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Day Three – The Private Teaching of the Disciples  

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The Golden Calf Living in Dan The Gates of Dan

Banias (Caesarea Philippi)       

The Feeding of the Four Thousand The Three Stories That Illustrate Jesus’ Teaching The Gates of Hell The Temple of Augustus Why Was Pilate so Quick to Kill Jesus?

Why Did God Want Blood?

The Atonement of Blood

Gamala Golan Heights Summary of Day Three

Day Four – The Perean Ministry of Jesus 

Pages 118 – 158

Beth She`an (OT) Scythopolis (NT)      

Walking the City of Scythopolis Walking Through the Ruins of Scythopolis What Was Religious Life Like to Romans?

The Roman Empire – United Under One Flag The Roman Baths The Traditions of the Roman Church

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Jericho Old Testament - Jericho, tel es Sultan Jericho New Testament - Herod the Great’s Palace at Jericho

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Going up to Jerusalem

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Bartimaeus

Day Five – Setting of the Birth Narrative  

Pages 159 – 186

Introduction Bethlehem   

Jesus’ Birth in Bethlehem th Where Did We Get December 25 ?

The Story of St. Nicholas

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Church of St. Catherine

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Shepherd’s Field

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The Tent at Shepherd’s Field The Herodion

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Story of Jerome Psalm 23

Herod’s Major Concerns Herod’s Synagogue Remezim and Parables

Day Six – Messianic Expectations and Disappointments 

Introduction  

Preparation for Passion Week Begins Here The Ascension of Jesus

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Mount of Olives

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Garden of Gethsemane

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Dominius Flevit – The Lord Wept The Four People You Should Know From Bethany The Cursing of the Fig Tree What Does Waiving an Olive Branch Really Mean?

Church of Saint Peter in Gallicantu The Last Supper Room The Jewish Quarter Temple Mount South Wall

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Pages 86 – 117

Baptism Tel Dan

Pages 187 – 214

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The Hinnom Valley

Day Seven - Jewish Questionings and Roman Trial of Jesus   

Passion Week Chapel at St. Anne’s Pool of Bethesda

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Via Dolorosa Church of the Holy Sepulcher

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Garden Tomb The Western Wall

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Jesus and the Pool of Bethesda

The Six Scriptural Requirements to be The Tomb of Jesus

Day Eight – Exclusive Visits   

Pages 238 – 243

Ancient Temple Mount Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum

Day Nine – The Hebrew Themes of the Wilderness        

Pages 215 – 237

Pages 244 – 266

The Wilderness Masada Ein Gedi Dead Sea Qumran Bedouin A Parade Salt Covenant

Credits

Pages 267 – 269

Photo Gallery

Pages 270 – 280

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Family photograp ph on the sou uth wall step ps Israel, Nov vember 2011 1

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Building a Foundation Israel was originally called Canaan or Phoenicia. The land of Canaan was predominantly known for three things by its neighboring lands: 1. Snails. The end of a snail that is attached to the shell contains a substance used for dye. The snail produced a red, blue and purple colored dye, which does not fade.

Canaan or Phoenicia literally means blue-red-purple.

2. Salt. Salt is abundant in the Dead Sea. 3. Tar. The Dead Sea also produces tar – a substance used in ship building and for surfacing roads. It also produces a product that was used in the mummification process.

Other than these three things, Israel was nothing more than a pathway for powerful surrounding countries and empires - Egypt, Assyria and Babylon - to cross through. It is ironic that God chose his promised land to be a country that other nations would have to travel through. For that reason, He decided that the people who lived there would be different to the rest of the world.

Quick Facts  Every year, Israel has to withstand most months of very little to no rain at all. The early rains start in November and soften up the soil for the heavier rains to follow. The wettest part of Israel is the north and west. The drier parts are in the south and east.  There were many more trees in Israel in Jesus’ time than today. Trees are related to rain. No trees are related to desert. Today there is a great need to replant trees in Israel. Later in the book, we will discuss where and why the trees disappeared.  Israel has two prominent rivers – the Archon River and the Jordan River. All the others are more insignificant to agriculture.  The early Catholic and Orthodox Greek Churches bought the land where “tradition” tells us an event took place, thus helping us to preserve the location.

Tel Aviv is a combination of the words “Tel” (meaning hill or mound) and “Aviv” (meaning spring).

A new city by Israel’s standards, Tel Aviv was founded in 1909 and built on the plains of Ono on the waterfront of the Mediterranean. It is home to 1.75 million people, which is onethird of the Israel’s population.

Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel Abib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days. – Ezek 3:15.

After the 1967 War, many countries moved their embassies from the capital Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, but retained consulates in Jerusalem. The adjacent city to Tel Aviv is Jaffa (Joppa), one of the older cities in Israel. It is where Peter had his vision in Acts 9 that made him travel to Caesarea, and to meet with Cornelius in Acts 10.

Quick Fact: The oldest city in Israel is Jericho.

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A Brief Overview of the Holy Land Israel’s history can be divided into two sections: 1. Ancient History – defined by the popular material of the time.

2. Recent History – defined by the leader in charge of the country.

1. Ancient History The Stone Age The Stone age is divided into Old (to 15,000 BCE), Middle (15,000-8,000 BCE) and New (8,000-4,000 BCE). Jericho was founded around 9000 BCE. This is about as far back as we can go archaeologically and remain accurate.

The Copper Age (4,000-2,800 BCE) Writing begins.

The Bronze Age (2,800-1,200 BCE)  The Early Bronze Age is Canaanites – an advanced people that were eventually displaced by the desert people, the Israelites. Note: The “ites” are mountain people and they are all shepherds.  The Middle Bronze Age is Abraham and the domestication of the camel. Caravans begin.  The Late Bronze Age is Exodus and Joshua.

The Iron Age (1,200-586 BCE) The Iron Age is all Israelites. The Early Iron Age is Judges and the 1st King, Saul, who reigned for 40 years. The Middle Iron Age is King David and King Solomon, who both ruled for 40 years. The collective 120 years of rule by Saul, David and Solomon is known as the “United Kingdom.” Next came the “Divided Kingdom”, which ended with Judah standing alone and eventually falling to the Babylonians. There were three waves of exile in the Babylonian captivity – 606, 597, and 586 BCE. There were also three prophets during the exile – Daniel, Ezekiel and Jeremiah – and they returned in three waves led by Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah.

2. Recent History Babylonian (Persian) Era Hellenistic (Greek) Era Roman Era Byzantine Era Early Arab Era Crusader Era Mameluke Era Turkish Ottoman Era Great Britain The state of Israel

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586 – 332 BCE 332 – 63 BCE 63 BCE – 324 CE 324 – 640 CE 640 – 1099 CE 1099 – 1250 CE 1250 – 1517 CE 1517 – 1918 CE 1914 – 1948 CE 1948 – present 2

The Roman Empire Based on the Mediterranean Sea and with Rome as its capital, the Roman Empire was the largest and most powerful empire of the ancient world. Many modern nations were once part of the Roman Empire, including Great Britain (excluding Scotland), Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Germany, Egypt, the north coast of Africa and Asia Minor. In order to control their large empire, the Romans developed important ideas about law and government, built roads and infrastructure, cities and outstanding buildings. They developed the best army in the world and ruled by force. The Empire was divided into provinces, each with a provincial governor plus civil and military support.

As the largest city in the world at the time, with a population of more than one million, trade was very important for Rome. They sourced wheat from Egypt, tin from Britannia, grapes from Gaul, etc. In return, the Romans helped develop provincial capitals into fine cities, protected them from raids by barbarians, and provided education and career opportunities for young people in the provinces, and offered careers in the Roman army.

The Romans referred to the Mediterranean Sea – or the Great Sea – as “Our Sea.” They had systematically conquered the surrounding lands approximately 300 years prior to the birth of Jesus. By the time Jesus was born the “sea” was as much a part of the Roman Empire as the land. It was their primary transportation system. Almost everything in Roman administration made its way onto a boat. To the Romans, the sea was viewed like our highways, railroads and airways today.

Latin was the language of the Roman Empire. Following the Roman annexation of Greece in 146 BC and the introduction of many Greek slaves into Roman households, the Greek language gradually obtained a unique place in the Roman world. In Rome itself, Greek became the second language of the educated elite. It became the common language in the early church (as its major centers in the early Christian period were in the East) and the language of scholarship and the arts.

Although Latin remained the most widely spoken language in the Western empire, Greek was regarded as the “literary” language in the East. In general, the Romans did not attempt to replace local languages and customs, preferring instead to gradually introduce typical Roman cultural elements into the society, including the Latin language. Greek was already widely spoken in many cities in the east and, as such, the Romans were content for it to remain as the administrative language rather than impede bureaucratic efficiency.

Moreover, the process of Hellenization (the spreading of ancient Greek culture and language) widened its scope during the Roman period due largely to the extensive infrastructure – entertainment, health, and education amenities, and extensive transportation networks – implemented by the Romans. Their tolerance and appreciation of other cultures were characteristics that differentiated them from the xenophobic Greeks who preceded them.

However, due to the presence of other widely spoken languages in the densely populated East, such as Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, Aramaic and Phoenician (also extensively spoken in North Africa), Greek never took as strong a hold beyond Asia Minor as Latin eventually did in the west.

Diversity was a problem in the Roman Empire – a collection of clans, countries, cultures and languages. The empire was comprised of over 200 different people groups, seven different ethnicities, 19 different languages, 100 different religions, but just one flag.

How were they able to maintain unity? The Romans had a strategy. Everywhere you went, you were constantly reminded that you were a Roman.

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At the time of Jesus’ birth there was “Pax Romana” – the peace of Rome. It was appreciated in every place but Israel.

Understanding the Meaning of Tradition Another important thing to understand is the meaning of the word “tradition.” Tradition means early evidence. Tradition says Jesus died here, or taught here, performed a miracle here, or was born here. So when the word “Tradition” is spoken or written, ask these three questions: 1. How do I know it happened here?

Was it a public event or private? If it was public and 5,000 people saw it, there is a good chance that the tradition is correct. But if it was private, and only one or a few people witnessed the event, it may be questionable.

2. What was important about the event for a Biblical person to care?

3. Was there continuous occupation on the place where the event took place?

If Christians believed Jesus stood on this rock and they came back to this rock for 500 years, it is likely that Jesus stood on that rock.

With this in mind, let’s consider the crucifixion. 1. Was it public? Yes. 2. Did people care?

Yes. 3. Did they continue to occupy the site? Yes. Therefore, the likelihood that we know the place of the crucifixion is pretty good.

Now consider the birth of Jesus. 1. Was it public or private? For Mary’s sake, we hope private. 2. Did people care? Not really (Ecc 7). A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth. Ancient Jews did not celebrate birthdays. In the day of Jesus, a person’s birthday was not important but the day he died was. Therefore, considering that the day was not important to the people and most likely a private event, the chances of knowing the exact place of Jesus’ birth is much less likely than knowing the location of the cross.

The Five Key Storylines that Flow Through the Bible The Bible is the story of two marriages. In the very, very, beginning, there are five basic story lines that run throughout the Bible. Here is Randy’s short-course synopsis of the Bible: 1. God - created what he cares about.

2. Satan – who he is and how he works.

3. The introduction of man - becomes the introduction of the fall with Satan’s ability to move man from God’s team to Satan’s team. The Prince of the Air becomes dominant on earth because we gave him the key.

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4. The human condition – the state of the condition after the fall – why don’t things work?

Everything from biology to relationships falls apart.

5. The story of redemption – Genesis 12 – starts with the marriage. God looked at all the people on earth and decided he would marry a people. He did not choose the people because they were smarter, prettier or for any other reason. He did it solely out of Divine choice.

The story starts with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – the people we call Israel. God invested his love in them, but they were unfaithful and did not love him back. In Hosea, he says, “For a time he put his wife away.” He separated from her, but not until they had a son. His son put on human skin. The son grew up and also took a bride, but part of the son’s job was to teach the estranged wife of the father how to be a wife. Someday soon, the trumpet will sound and the son will go off to his wedding with his bride.

And the father will turn his attention back to his estranged love after seven very long and hard years. She looks up to him and they are reunited once again. It is the story of two marriages. It is the story of God’s love for Israel and what he wants her to be. Paul says in Romans. “It is yet ahead.”

The Gospels by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are not biographies of Jesus, but are four evangelistic tracks (note: the early church referred to the disciples as evangelists not apostles) that tell the story from four different perspectives, each one more detailed in specific areas than the others. For example, Luke contains much about the Perean ministry, while Matthew and Mark barely touch the subject. Matthew contains the Davidic genealogy and sermons. John writes much about the last days of Jesus. Mark writes about his public ministry. Each gospel writer has a different focus.

Matthew. One of Jesus’ original 12 disciples, Matthew was a tax collector before he was selected by Jesus. He was always with Jesus and he wrote about Jesus’ words – whatever he said. Matthew wrote to the Jews between the years AD 60-65. Take a look at the amount of red letter text in a “Red Letter” Bible.

Mark. John Mark – who was called Mark – was not a disciple but a follower of Jesus. His book basically is about the ministry of Jesus. His book, which starts with the baptism of Jesus, is blunt and to the point and the shortest of the Gospels at only 16 chapters. During 55-56 AD, Mark wrote to the Christians about the works of Jesus. Mark traveled with Paul on his first mission trip.

Luke. A Greek doctor who understood the importance of detail; Luke’s role was as a historian. He interviewed people who were there. Look what Luke says about his book in 1:1-4 – To set forth in order. Luke organizes the events in chronological order. Luke wrote to the Gentiles about AD 60. Like Mark, he was a friend of Paul and traveled with him. Luke also wrote the book of Acts, which is the history of the early church.

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John. John, son of Zebedee and brother of James, was a disciple of Jesus and present with Jesus’ mother when he was crucified. The last to write his book, John saw things differently than Matthew, Mark or Luke. John was part of the inner circle of Jesus – along with Peter and James. He wrote his books about AD 85 to new Christians and searching Christians. He also wrote 1st, 2nd and 3rd John and Revelation.

John was a pastor during the last years of his life. Understanding that many people did not really understand the problems Jesus had with the religious leaders and the aristocracy of Jerusalem, John wrote about the conflicts of Jesus. For example, Jesus would heal a person and religious leaders would tell him it was the wrong day of the week to heal. John also wrote to prove that Jesus was the Son of God.

The Highways and People of Israel The Five Major Highways Highway 1 – Via Maris The highway closest to the sea is called the Via Maris (Highway of the Sea) and runs from Egypt to Damascus. It is also known as the International Highway or the Highway of the Gentiles.

Highway 2 – Ridge Route The second highway is called the Ridge Route and is also referred to as the Hill Highway or the Watershed Ridge. All of the rain that falls on the west side of Israel flows into the Mediterranean Sea, while the rain that falls on the east side runs into the Dead Sea. This would be the Highway of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Highways 3 and 4 – Westside and Eastside The Westside and Eastside highways flank the Jordan River. During the United Kingdom the Westside highway was kosher. After the United Kingdom and the problem with Samaria, the Eastside, or Perean side, was kosher.

Highway 5 – Kings Highway The Kings Highway ran north to south through Jordan.

The People of Israel All the major highways in Israel at the time of Jesus ran from north to south since this was the easiest route through safe areas. East to west travel was much more difficult and more dangerous because the terrain isolated people. For example, the people living in the mountains were cut off from the people living along the coast. The mountain people were called “Up-stream” people and the people who lived below were called “Down-stream” people.

The Up-stream people lived a simple life and remained unimpressed by advancements in civilization and technology. The Down-stream people were more attracted to the hi-tech innovations. It is like comparing Charlotte to Appalachia. The hill people are different from the people down lower in the valley.

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The people who o lived along the coastt were Cana aanites and d Phoenicia ans – also kknown a as the Philis stines. This s people gro oup was big gger, strong ger and mo ore advance ed than the e Israelites. The T Israelite es went to the t Philistin nes to learn how to mo ove into the Iron Age. K Key Note: It I is importtant to und derstand and remem ber that th he Bible wa as written b by ““Up-stream m” people.

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An Overview of the Life and Ministry of Jesus The ministry of Jesus can be generally divided into the following key ministries: 1. Pre-ministry. Birth, escape to Egypt and the return, childhood, and baptism.

2. Popular Ministry. Baptism through the Galilean period and a period of withdrawal.

3. Parting Ministry. Jesus tells his disciples he will be leaving them – including the Judean and Perean periods, Passion Week, Resurrection and 40 days after.

1. Pre-ministry i. Preparation: From Birth to Introduction And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with people, (Luke 2:52). This is a description of Jesus at the age of 12 and the final words about Jesus before his reappearance at about the age of 30.

All that we know about the early days of Jesus’ life are recorded in Matthew and Luke.

Both Mark and John begin with the ministry of John the Baptist. That does not diminish the significance of these years, however. It was during these years that Jesus was developing a growing awareness of who he was as the Messiah in preparation for this redemptive ministry.

Jesus’ preparation actually began in the halls of eternity as God in His sovereignty looked through time toward the fall of man and man’s eventual redemption. But we will concern ourselves with Jesus’ earthly life, which started that night in the loving arms of his parents. Preparation continued as he developed self-awareness and an understanding of the broader community of Jewish faith and messianic expectation. His “world” taught him to be a good Jew. His heavenly Father helped him prepare to be the Messiah.

Like anybody else, Jesus was at first a child with the mind of a child. He learned to trust his parents, Mary and Joseph, and develop an identity as their son. Then Jesus was a boy with the nature of a boy. He lived as we do – one day at a time.

We do not know when Jesus developed a full understanding of his messianic identity, but he seemed to have a healthy sense of his “son-ship” at the age of 12 when he responded to his parents concern with, “Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know that I had to be in my Father’s house?”

ii. Introduction: From Baptism to Galilean Ministry (approximately 6 months) The next day, John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world – and I have seen and testified that He is the Son of God! – John 1:29 and 34.

Following the details regarding his birth and childhood, Jesus disappeared from the pages of the Gospels, but according to Luke 3:23 he resurfaced when he was about 30 years old, at which time he was baptized by John the Baptist. After his baptism and temptation, Jesus spent several months introducing himself to the people he came to redeem by traveling, 8

preaching, and gathering a group of followers. Beyond his baptism and temptation, all we know about these months is found exclusively in the Gospel of John.

Virtually all the stories of this period contain an aspect of introduction. That is why we refer to this period as the introduction phase of his ministry. It is during this time that Jesus began to make the people of Israel and the religious leaders in Jerusalem aware of his presence.        

Jesus baptism: This is my beloved Son. I take delight in Him. – Matthew 3:17.

John the Baptist’s announcement: Here is the Lamb of God. – John 1:29.

The gathering of early followers: We have found the Messiah. – John 1:41.

The wedding in Cana: Jesus performed this first sign in Cana of Galilee. He displayed His glory, and his disciples believed in Him. – John 2:11.

The first cleansing of the temple: So the Jews replied to Him, What sign of authority will you show us for doing these things? In other words, they were asking, “Who are you and what gives you the right to do this?” – John 2:18.

Nicodemus: Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher. – John 3:2.

John the Baptist’s later testimony: I am not the Messiah, but I’ve been sent ahead of Him. He who has the bride is the groom. But the groom’s friend, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly in the groom’s voice. – John 3:28-29.

The woman at the well: I am He… – John 4:26.

There are four main periods of the ministry of Jesus. After his baptism and temptation in the desert Jesus stayed in Judea until the arrest of John the Baptist. Then Jesus went to Galilee, by way of Samaria, preaching the good news of God.

2. Popular Ministry i. Galilean Ministry (approximately 12–18 months) The New Testament records more than 10 occasions where the ministry of Jesus took place in a synagogue. The Gospels record that Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues. Yet the Christian reader rarely ponders the significance of such an apparently common structure so central in Jesus' ministry.

The synagogue provided a ready platform for the teachings of Jesus and, later, those of the apostle Paul. In that way, it proved to be a significant part of God's preparing exactly the right cultural practices for his Son's ministry. But more than that, Jesus, his disciples, and Paul (as well as most early Jewish followers of Jesus) went to the synagogue to worship. The synagogue was not simply a place to share God's Word, but also an important part of the Jewish people's relationship with God. It might surprise modern Christians to discover that many church practices are based on synagogue customs that Jesus followed. Understanding the synagogue and its place in Jesus' life and teaching is an important step in hearing his message in the cultural context in which God placed it.

There are many theories of the origin of a gathering place called “synagogue.” The Greek word means “assembly” and is used in place of the Hebrew word meaning congregation or community of Israel. Originally, it probably referred to the gathered people and, over time, also came to refer to the place of assembly. Jews went to the synagogue every day. It was never used or referred to as the Temple, which was God’s dwelling place, 9

and not primarily a place of assembly for the community. No one but Levites and priests could enter the Temple. However, all members of a Jewish community could participate in the community life of the synagogue.

Some Jewish traditions hold that there were places of assembly for the study of Torah during the time of the Temple of Solomon. At the most, the Old Testament indicates that the practice of prayer, with or without sacrifice, which was to be so central to the synagogue, had already begun (Ps.116–117; Isa. 1:11, 15; 1 Sam. 1:10).

The beginning of the assembly of people for the purpose of study and prayer (the Jewish way of describing worship) appears to be the Babylonian exile after the destruction of the first Temple. Jewish scholars believe Ezekiel’s reassuring promise that God would provide a sanctuary (11:16) for his people is a reference to the small groups that gathered in their homes during the exile to recall God’s covenant, his law, and especially the redemptive promises of the prophets.

It is likely that these godly people, having learned a hard lesson about the importance of obedience to God, assembled regularly to study his Torah to prevent the sins of their ancestors from being repeated. A group of experts in the law and its interpretation taught and studied in small associations at humble locations called “houses of study”. These places of study, and the reflection on the need to be obedient, are the roots of the synagogue – a sanctuary to inspire obedience to God. Despite a later emphasis on prayer and study in the place of assembly, it is likely that the main focus of the early gatherings of Jewish people was simply the need to maintain their identity as a people living in a foreign and pagan country. That the synagogue began as the center of the Jewish social life was confirmed by the fact that it was also the community center in the first century. The synagogue was school, meeting place, courtroom and a place of prayer. In some towns, the synagogue may even have provided lodging for travelers. It was the place where small groups of Jewish students assembled for Scripture reading and discussion of the Torah and oral tradition.

Worship, study, friendship, community celebration and even community governance were all conducted in the synagogue, most likely by the same people. It appears that the early church modeled itself on the synagogue and continued the same practice of living and worshiping together as a community, often in private homes (Acts 2:42–47). The modern assembly of Jesus’ followers would do well to remember that the roots of the church are in a community living and worshiping together. Worship (prayer) was a natural extension of the life of the community.

By the first century, a synagogue was found in most of the towns and villages of Galilee. The Gospels specifically mention those of Nazareth (Matt. 13:54) and Capernaum (Mark 1:21). Although archaeological evidence is limited for the early synagogues, the later ones left much more substantial remains. Typically, they were built on the highest point in town, or on a raised platform. As long as the Temple stood in Jerusalem, synagogues apparently did not face Jerusalem.

In some cases, the front facade had three doors. Inside there were benches on three sides of the room. There was a small platform where the speakers or readers would stand, and it is possible that a small menorah (a seven-branched candlestick), like the one in the Temple, stood on that platform. The floor was usually dirt or flagstones, and common people probably sat on mats on the floor, while the important people sat on the stone benches (Matt.

23:6). In later synagogues, elaborate mosaics with a variety of designs covered the floor.

There was a seat for the reader of the Torah called the Moses Seat (or the Seat of Honor). Because the Torah recorded the words of Moses, the reader was taking Moses’ place 10

(Matt. 23:2). The Torah scrolls and the writings of the prophets were either kept in a portable chest and brought to the synagogue for worship or were kept in the Synagogue itself in a permanent Torah cabinet called the Holy Ark. Outside was a mikvah (ritual bath) for the symbolic cleansing required for entrance into the synagogue.

Local elders governed the synagogue as a democracy. While all adult members of the community could belong to the synagogue, only adult males age 13 or older could be “elders”.

A local caretaker, (a “ruler” in the English Bible), called a “hazzan”, was responsible for maintaining the building and organizing the prayer services (Mark 5:22, 35 and 36; Luke 8:41– 49, 13:14). The hazzan was sometimes the teacher of the synagogue school, especially in smaller villages. He would announce the coming Sabbath with blasts on the shofar (ram’s horn).

Although the hazzan was in charge of worship services, the prayer leader, readers, and even the one who delivered the short sermon could be any adult member of the community.

All were recognized as being able to share the meaning of God’s Word as God had taught them in their daily walk with him. In this way, the community encouraged even its youngest members to be active participants in its religious life. (Note: Jesus’ encounter with the wise teachers in the Temple courts was unusual not so much because of his age, but because of the wise questions he asked. See Luke 2:41–47).

The hazzan also cared for the Torah scrolls and other sacred writings and brought them out at the appropriate times (Luke 4:17-20). Priests and Levites were welcome to participate in synagogue life, including worship, but they had no special role except that only priests could offer the blessing of Aaron from the Torah (Num. 6:24–27) at the end of the service.

While the synagogue building functioned as a community center, school, court, and place of study during the week, on the Sabbath it served as the place where the assembly met for prayer. When the first three stars could be seen on Friday evening, the hazzan blew the shofar to announce that the Sabbath had begun. The people gathered at twilight to eat the Sabbath meal in their homes. All the food was already prepared ahead of time – before the Sabbath began - because no work was permitted during this time in most traditions.

The following morning, the community gathered in the synagogue building. The service began with several blessings offered to God. The congregation recited the Shema: Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the Lord is one. (Deut. 6:4). The Torah scrolls would be brought out by the hazzan and would be read in up to seven portions. Different people were scheduled to read a portion each week. The readings were determined according to a set schedule, so the reader would have no choice of the passage read.

The Torah portion was followed by a section from the Prophets (called the Haphtarah) read by the same or another reader. After the readings were completed, a short sermon was offered, often by the reader of the Torah or the Haphtarah. Any adult member of the community was eligible to speak the sermon called the “Derashah”. The sermon was frequently quite short (Jesus spoke only a few words in Luke 4:21). The service ended with a benediction using the Aaronic blessing found in the Torah (Num. 6:24–26) if a priest was present to offer it.

Jesus spent much time in synagogues (Matt. 4:23). He taught in them (Matt. 13:54), healed in them (Luke 4:33–35; Mark 3:1–5), and debated the interpretation of Torah in them (John 6:28–59). Jesus clearly belonged to the community of the synagogue because when he visited Nazareth, he was scheduled to read the Haphtarah (Luke 4: 16–30) and may have read the Torah as well, as he concluded with a provocative Derashah. This is a remarkable 11

example of God’s preparation, since the passage Jesus read was exactly the passage that he used to explain his ministry.

Early Christians continued to attend synagogues, though with a new interpretation of the Torah, now that Jesus had been revealed as Messiah (Acts 13:14). The new community of Jesus was born out of the synagogue. Believers were to become assemblies, not single individuals seeking God alone. We address God as our Father because we are his assembly.

We are one body because we are made that way through Jesus (1 Cor. 12:12–13). In our fractured, broken world, with all its self-preoccupation, the model of the synagogue – the picture of the community of God – presents an alluring message. We would do well to understand the synagogue of Galilee.

Boys and girls went to school in Galilee. Boys continued their education until they were 15 if they displayed unusual ability, while the girls were married by that time. Students probably attended school in the synagogue and were taught by the hazzan or a local Torah Teacher. Study began at age five or six in elementary school, called Bet Sefer. The subject was the Torah and the method was memorization. Since the learning of the community was passed orally, memorization of tradition and God’s Word were essential.

At first students studied only the Torah, although they would later study the more complicated oral interpretations of the Torah. Question-and-answer sessions between teacher and student were added to the memorization drills. The more gifted students might continue after age 12 or 13 in beth Midrash (house of study, or secondary school). Here began the more intense process of understanding and applying the Torah and oral tradition to specific situations. The truly gifted would leave home to study with a famous rabbi to become a talmid (disciple). Although their discussion and study might be held in the synagogue, these disciples would travel with their rabbi, learning the wisdom of Torah and oral tradition applied to the daily situations they faced.

By the time a person was an adult, he knew most of the Scriptures by heart. If someone recited a passage, the audience would know whether it was quoted accurately or not. Jesus, in keeping with his culture, would simply begin with “It is written..."knowing that his audience would recognize an accurate quote.

The Mishnah (the written record of the oral traditions of Jesus’ time and after) recorded that the gifted student began study of the written Torah at age five, studied oral traditions at age 12, became a religious adult at 13, studied the application of Torah and tradition at 15, learned a trade at 20, and entered his full ability at 30. Although this was written after Jesus, it represents the practice of the time.

It is significant that Jesus came to Jerusalem already wise at age 12 and then learned a trade from His father until his ministry began at age 30. Jesus’ life seemed to closely follow the educational practices of his people. He surely attended the local school of Nazareth and learned from great rabbis. Being addressed as Rabbi certainly indicated someone who had learned from a rabbi. He certainly selected a group of students who followed him, learning as they went. And everywhere, his audience had the knowledge of the Bible on which Jesus so often based his teaching.

Christians describe the church activity of formal interaction with God as worship. Jews described the same activity in synagogues in Bible times as prayer. In Jesus’ parable, the tax collector and Pharisee go to the Temple to pray (Luke 18:10). Their activity certainly included prayer, since going to the Temple to pray meant going at the time of worship and sacrifice.

The Temple is called the House of Prayer (Isa. 56:7; Luke 19:46), meaning the place of worship.

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Most of this ministry centered in Capernaum, but also included Korazin and Bethsaida, known as the “Orthodox Triangle” or the “Gospel Triangle.” A major town located on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum was home to fishermen, farmers, a Roman garrison, and a customs house where tax collectors worked. Capernaum had a large synagogue, the remains of which are beneath the ruins of a later synagogue. Many of the New Testament stories about Jesus took place here.

Jesus' disciple Matthew, a tax collector, came from this town (Matt. 8:5–17, 9:1–34, 17:24–27; Mark 1:21–34, 2:1–12; Luke 7:1–10; John 6:16, 71). Jesus then added these words about Capernaum, the city where he spent most of his time and where he had worked so many miracles: And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the Day of Judgment than for you. (Matt. 11:23-24).

The village of Korazin was located three miles north of Capernaum. Just north of Korazin lay the Mount of Beatitudes, the hillside where Jesus may have presented the Sermon on the Mount. Although this was one of the towns where many of Jesus' miracles took place, the Bible records no specific visit of Jesus to Korazin. It was large and prosperous and had a synagogue. Its economic pursuits included the processing of olives.

Peter, Andrew, and Philip were successful fishermen from the town of Bethsaida (John 1:44, 12:21) located on the northern end of the sea near where the Jordan River enters. This is where Jesus fed the five thousand (Luke 9:10–17) and healed a blind man (Mark 8:22–26).

The ruins of this village are being uncovered for the first time, revealing a prosperous town constructed of basalt, a black rock common to the area.

The people of Korazin knew Jesus, and Jesus knew them. We know this because of something Jesus said in Matthew 11:20-22, Jesus then began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed because they did not repent. Woe to you, Korazin!

Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the Day of Judgment than for you.

Jesus worked miracles in Korazin. Not just one but many. However, we don’t know which ones because the New Testament doesn’t tell us. John writes (John 21:25) at the end of his gospel that Jesus did many other things as well. If every single act was written down or recorded, we might not have room for the books that would have been written about them.

The first 30 years of Jesus’ life were spent in preparation for a ministry of redemption.

The year following his baptism was a period of introduction, during which he put the people and religious leaders on notice; I am the Messiah you have been waiting for.

The popularity of Jesus was growing, but so was the concern among the religious leaders whose power was greatest in Jerusalem, Judea. Jesus’ introduction in the temple (John 2:13-20) was a blatant and bold challenge to their authority. The imprisonment of John the Baptist by Herod was the final signal that the continued ministry focused in Judea was not prudent. So Jesus headed north to Galilee.

John 2:13-20 And the Jews' Passover was at hand and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting. And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables.

And said unto them that sold doves, ‘Take these things hence; make not my Father's house a house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, ‘The zeal of thine 13

house hath eaten me up’. Then answered the Jews and said unto him, ‘What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?’ Jesus answered and said unto them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ Then said the Jews, ‘Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?’

The Galilean ministry lasted approximately 18 months and was Jesus’ longest single period of preaching, healing, and teaching. Events from this period are recorded in all four Gospels. Consequently, we know more about this season of his ministry than any other.

The Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) all jump immediately into the Galilean Ministry. Referring to the first three books of the New Testament as Synoptic comes from the Greek word “synoptikos” which means to present or take a common view. In addition, all three Gospels introduce the Galilean Ministry by pointing to Jesus’ preaching and teaching ministry and the core of his message rather than his healing ministry.

This emphasis on his message and preaching doesn’t diminish the significance of his healing ministry, but merely places it in its appropriate place as a complement of his message.

John’s Gospel introduces the Galilean Ministry with a miracle healing, but specifically identifies the healing as the second sign Jesus preformed after He came from Judea to Galilee. (John 4:54) While Jesus’ healings were an important demonstration of his compassion and desire to bless people with wholeness, they always served as larger purpose of demonstrating his power and, ultimately, authenticating his identity as the Messiah. This balance must be vigorously maintained in any study of the person and ministry of Jesus.

All of Jesus’ miracles point to him. Above all else they teach that he is the Messiah. As the Messiah, he is defined by and driven by his Messianic mission of redemption. His miracles and his message point to his Messianic mission. We must never consider his miracles or message apart from his mission.

The first words by Jesus recorded by Luke following his temptation underscore what his entire ministry was about. The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. (Luke 4:18–19) So it is that Jesus began his Galilean Ministry with the announcement that he was assuming the Messianic mantel. He will preach. He will heal. He will bring “freedom” because he has been “anointed” to usher in the kingdom of God.

ii. Season of Withdrawal (approximately 6 months) Herod’s execution of John the Baptist marks another turning point in the ministry of Jesus. When Jesus was informed, he withdrew by boat to a remote place to be alone (Matt.

14:13). John had been imprisoned shortly after Jesus started preaching in Judea. It was John’s arrest and imprisonment that was the catalyst for Jesus to leave Judea and return to Galilee roughly 18 months earlier. This time, it is John’s execution that drove Jesus to carry his ministry into regions beyond the easy reach of Herod and to begin a more deliberate effort at preparing his disciples for what was coming. This was the Season of Withdrawal.

Jesus knew that he was destined for the cross as the final, sacrificial “lamb of God.” But the timing of his death needed to be on his timetable, not Herod’s or that of the Sanhedrin.

There were things to do. Preparing his disciples was one of those things.

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Jesus had sent his disciples on a tour of Galilee to preach, heal and minister. They returned while the execution of John the Baptist was still fresh on everyone’s minds. The disciples were tired and needed rest. Further, their activity raised questions in Herod’s mind regarding Jesus (Mark 6:12-14). So Jesus initiated a season of rest and withdrawal from Galilee that would provide greater safety from Herod and a time to better prepare the disciples.

However, while this was a season of withdrawal from Galilee, it certainly wasn’t a season of withdrawal from the ministry. Jesus was quite active during this period and accomplished much. This is arguably the most intense period of ministry for Jesus as he took his message and ministry beyond the lost sheep of the house of Israel. (Matthew 15:24) Some of the best-loved stories and messages of Jesus come from this period – the feeding of the 5,000, walking on water, Peter’s great confession, and the transfiguration. It was a rich time of ministry that teaches us a lot about the heart and mind of Jesus.

The period begins with the return of the disciples from their ministry tour when Jesus calls them to come away and rest a while. It will take him north and west where Jesus will take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs. It will see him transformed before Peter, James and John. Finally, it will conclude with his departure from Galilee for the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem.

By the end of this period, Jesus is clearly anticipating the cross and preparing his disciples for that horrific event. The Passover is roughly six months away and the countdown has begun. The ministry will continue, but the storm clouds are gathering. Jesus is heading to his destiny in Jerusalem and Golgotha.

3. Parting Ministry i. Judean Ministry (approximately 3 months) When his brothers had gone up to the festival (in Jerusalem, Judea), He also went up, not openly but secretly. – John 7:10.

The cross was roughly six months away. For the past six months, Jesus had withdrawn to those areas that would minimize confrontation with the Jewish religious leaders in Judea and Galilee as well as with political leaders like Herod. During this time, he continued his ministry and invested heavily in preparing the disciples for what was to come. Soon, however, it would be time to begin the journey to Jerusalem and what would be his final Passover. It was time to carry his ministry to Judea.

The Feast of the Tabernacle took place six months before Passover. Jesus had initially indicated he would not attend the celebration that marked the end of the harvest, but then chose to go “secretly” (John 7:10). This marks the beginning of the Judean Ministry and reveals Jesus’ strategic resolve to make the journey for which he was born.

John’s record of the Judean Ministry begins with the Festival of the Tabernacle (John 7:10) and concludes with an attempt on Jesus’ life during the Festival of Dedication (John 10:39). The Feast of Dedication commemorates the rededication of the temple 164 BCE after Judas Maccabeus had defeated Antiochus Epiphanies and cleansed the temple. It was midDecember when this took place, indicating that the Judean Ministry had lasted three months.

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These chapters in John consist primarily of a series of discourses between Jesus and “the Jews” that revealed their growing animosity toward Jesus and his growing challenge to their unbelief. In these four chapters there are eight references to either the plan to kill him or actual attempts to kill him (John 7:19-20, 25; 8:28, 37, 40, 59; 10:31, 39).

The desire to kill Jesus created some high drama during these three months. John notes on two occasions that the repeated attempts to seize him failed because the time was not right (John 7:30, 8:20) and seem to suggest that Jesus was miraculously “hidden” (John 8:59) and “eluded their grasp” (John 10:39). But this, ultimately, was not a drama of political cat and mouse between Jesus and the Jews. It was the cosmic drama between God and Satan himself. Jesus would not allow Satan to control the agenda.

Other than possibly Matthew’s record of the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13, the only other Gospel writer who provides any coverage of this three-month period was Luke. Luke records some of our favorite stories, including the parable of the Good Samaritan, the parable of the Rich Fool and the story that is known as the Prodigal Son. All the events of this period must be read and understood in the context of the rising conflict between Jesus and the Sanhedrin. For three months, Jesus ministered, taught and preached in such a way as to bring charity to his kingdom and distinction from the kingdom of the world. It finally became necessary for him to leave Judea in an effort to slow the pace of those who desired to kill him. This would be his last time to avoid the conflict. His next trip to Jerusalem would be his last.

ii. Perean Ministry (approximately 3 months) So he departed again across the Jordan to the place where John (the Baptist) had first baptized, and he remained there. – John 10:40.

Before Jesus’ final conflict in Jerusalem, he spent several months ministering in Perea, the territory of Herod Antipas, on the east side of the Jordan River. Luke’s gospel is the main source of information for this period of Jesus’ life. John does speak of a few events of this period, most notably the raising of Lazarus (John 11:1-44). Both Matthew and Mark mention a few of Jesus’ teachings and conflicts during this period. So each of the Synoptics (Matthew, Mark, Luke) give attention to the Perean Ministry Three months until the Passover and until Jesus would make a final entrance into Jerusalem. Three months until he would face the agony of the cross. Just three months until his redemptive mission would be fulfilled. In the meantime, Jesus would continue to preach, teach, heal and manage the conflict according to God’s timetable, not the agenda of those planning to kill him.

It was because of this conflict that Jesus found it necessary to leave Jerusalem and Judea and travel east into Perea. In all likelihood, this is where Jesus had been baptized and initiated his public ministry some three years earlier. It was fitting that Jesus should return to the region where John the Baptist had helped prepare the way for the Lord (Matthew 3:3).

Indeed, John’s Gospel tells us that during this ministry in Perea many believed in Him there. – John 10:42.

Although the Perean Ministry began in Perea, it was not spent entirely there. During this time he traveled to Bethany in Judea (John 11:18), spent some time in Ephraim, Judea (John 11:54), made a final trip to Galilee (Matt. 19:1), and visited Jericho (Luke 19:1). But 16

regardless of where Jesus was during these three months, it’s clear that in his head and heart, he was “making his way,” ultimately, to Jerusalem (Matt. 20:18, Luke 13:22, 17:11).

During most of Jesus’ Perean ministry he was teaching the disciples what was required to be a follower of Jesus. He emphasized that the record of Jesus’ ministry during this period is dominated by teachings and parables on a broad variety of subjects – our relation to all kinds of other people, to money and to life in general. Only four miracles are recorded.

John records Jesus leaving Jerusalem after attending the Feast of Dedication and crossing into Perea. Then Luke picks up the story. Jesus cries over the beloved City of David, Jerusalem, Jerusalem!…How often I have wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, yet you were not willing! (Luke 13:34). Who could miss the intense divine longings for this city at the heart of God’s eternal redemptive plan?

Near the beginning and the end of this period, we are given four accounts that provide an interesting glimpse into the emotional side of Jesus. When we are told that Herod wanted to kill him, Jesus referred to Herod as “that fox” and then said, Look! I’m driving out demons and performing healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will complete my work.

Yet I must travel today, tomorrow and the next day, because it is not possible for a prophet to perish outside of Jerusalem! It is hard not to sense a degree of exasperation in his voice due to the constant threat that was hanging over him (Luke 13:31-33).

Luke wrote about a day in Perea in chapters 14 and15. During this day, Jesus referred to Herod as a “fox”, taught the disciples about the cost of discipleship, and then the one parable with three illustrations – the lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son.

It was about that time that Jesus was also told that his friend Lazarus was dying. Jesus did not need to be there to heal him. He left Perea and returned to Bethany. Along the way, he taught the disciples to follow God and not love the world, and especially money. That led to the parable of the rich man’s shrewd manager ending with the famous dictum, You cannot serve both God and money. (Luke 16:13). That was followed by another parable of a rich man and his relationship with a blind beggar. It is interesting that Jesus gave the blind beggar the name Lazarus in this parable. The race to gain more money will blind you from the truth.

When the disciples rebuked those wishing to bring the “little children” to Jesus so he could touch them, we are told that Jesus became “indignant” (Mark 10:14). It was not the only time Jesus spoke up for the value of the children to reveal his tender love for them.

Shortly before their arrival in Jerusalem, Jesus spoke with the disciples rather bluntly about his imminent crucifixion. There is an unmistakable urgency and passion in his voice when he calls for their attention, Listen! We are going to Jerusalem. (Matthew 20:18) The Perean ministry also includes the trip to Jerusalem for Passover. By this time, the Pharisees and Sanhedrin were plotting to kill Jesus. Consequently, Jesus stayed away from Jerusalem and moved to Ephraim in northern Judea. He may have traveled north through Samaria and into Galilee and joined the pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem. From Galilee he traveled south, through Perea, avoiding Samaria, and crossed around Jericho.

Luke dedicated a fair amount of space to this time, and Matthew and Mark also recorded several events. On this final trip to Jerusalem, Jesus healed 10 lepers (only one thanked him), told the disciples about the conditions that will prevail at his second coming (a precursor to the Olivet Discourse), taught that prayer must be persistent and humble for God to hear it and answer it (Luke 18), encountered blind Bartimaeus, then Zacchaeus, and conducted other teachings along the way.

The Perean Ministry represented the close of Jesus’ itinerant ministry. His days were numbered. The clock was ticking. Soon he would be in Jerusalem to face the cross.

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iii. Passion Week (7 days) The next day, when the large crowd that had come to the Passover festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took palm branches and went out to meet Him. They kept shouting: Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord – the King of Israel. – John 12:12-13.

In all of history, there has never been a more important week, nor will there ever be.

This was the focal point of eternity; the point at which Satan was defeated and redemption was sealed. Every prior moment was merely a prelude – a longing in anticipation of this week.

Every moment since has been and will be a celebration in the halls of eternity – a testimony to the price paid and the victory won during the pivotal week. This is the week we now call the Passion Week.

For years, Jesus had lived with the knowledge that this week would come. He knew that, in time, he would be the final Passover lamb. We don’t know when Jesus became aware of his sacrificial destiny, but when he was just eight days old, Mary was told by Simeon, this child is destined to cause the fall and rise of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be opposed – and a sword will pierce your own soul… – Luke 2:34-35.

It’s easy to see how Jesus would have learned early of the suffering of the Lord’s “servant” foretold in Isaiah 53. As his Messianic identity developed, Jesus would have understood the application of the prophecy to himself.

This was the fourth Passover since his baptism. It’s impossible to say if Jesus had anticipated from the beginning that his death would come on the fourth Passover. Either way, he certainly had been aware for several months that this would be his last. He entered Jerusalem with a complete understanding of what would happen.

The week begins with Jesus’ “triumphant” or “royal” entry into Jerusalem on Sunday.

He had arrived at Bethany on Friday and stayed at the home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha.

Prior visits to Jerusalem had been quiet and without fanfare. Not so this time. Jesus entered the city with the people praising him as a King. Not only was he no longer avoiding the plot against him, he was actually challenging the Sanhedrin in anticipation of the coming arrest and execution.

It was a full week, with Jesus teaching many parables, answering questions and cleansing the temple for the second time. Finally, Jesus gathered his disciples for the Passover meal on Thursday evening and so began the chain of events that led to his crucifixion and burial on Friday. Not surprisingly, all four Gospels provide significant details of the Passover Week. This was where Jesus’ conflict with the Jewish leadership manifested and reflected the cosmic conflict between God and Satan.

Even in the shadow of the cross, Jesus continued to teach and minister to those he came to save. Such was his love for people. Such was the need to clarify his message. Such was the power of this servant who never stopped giving himself in sacrificial service to others, even as he was hanging on the cross. It was always about people. It was always about their redemption. It was always about their lives. This was the driving force in his life and ministry.

This was why he came. This was his mission and calling. This was his passion.

iv. Resurrection / Post-Resurrection (40 days) Don’t be alarmed, he told them. You were looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified.

He has been resurrected! He is not here! See the place where they put him. - Matthew 16:6 18

The dramatic struggle of redemption ended on Friday when Jesus declared, It is finished! and then died. There was nothing left for him to accomplish. His life was over and his ministry concluded. The lamb had been slain. The price had been paid. The blood of the final sacrifice had been spilt. Redemption was sealed. But that was not the end of the story.

If Satan and his legions were celebrating the execution of this Jesus of Nazareth, the party was about to come to a screeching halt. Jesus, the Son, may have concluded his mission, but the Father’s work was not over. He was about to make a statement.

Paul, the Apostle, helps us understand the role of the Father in the hours and days following the crucifixion. He tells us that Jesus was established as the powerful Son of God by the Resurrection from the dead – Romans 1:4. He makes it more personal when he tells us that, God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. – Corinthians 6:14. It was Jesus’ role to secure the redemption through his sacrificial death. It was the Father’s role to raise Jesus “by His power.”

So it was that Jesus entrusted his “spirit” to the Father as he died on the cross (Luke 23:46). It was the final and ultimate act of faith. Now it was up to the Father to honor the faith of his Son, and that He died on Sunday morning. The resurrection was the Father’s proof that Jesus is His son and that redemption is secure, and victory is certain. Even death is not final.

Although the resurrection is difficult to believe, Jesus appeared to many people at various times for 40 days. Even after Jesus had taught about it, the skepticism of our materialistic and carnal hearts is hard to overcome. It obscures reality and challenges the power of God in our lives and the lives of others. Like Thomas, we want to see the mark of the nails in His hands” and put our hands into His sides. So, it takes time for the reality to sink in. Jesus provided this time as he walked with his followers, ate with them, and allowed his simple presence to confirm what their hearts had trouble believing.

In time, Jesus blessed his disciples and ascended into heaven, leaving his ministry in their fragile hands. Thus we become the recipient of both their ministry and their mission. Like Jesus, we are called to trust the Father and give our lives in a sacrificial and redemptive ministry. Like the disciples, we are called to follow Jesus to the cross and then on to redemption.

And, like the disciples, he has not left us as orphan” (John 14:18). The Holy Spirit of Jesus has come and is Immanuel, God with us, today. He empowers us, comforts us, encourages us and counsels us. We learn about the activities of the Spirit among the early followers of Jesus in The Book of Acts, the sequel to Luke’s Gospel.

But we continue to write the story of Jesus in our own lives and ministries today. And someday Jesus will return, for he has promised, Yes, I am coming quickly. And our response today, and always, will be “Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! (Rev. 22:20).

***

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Day 1

The Conflicts of Jesus Caesarea Maritima Growing up in Rome, Herod was the classmate of Augustus. Just think how cool it would be to have a good friend who was the ruler of the current civilized world! The Roman emperor Augustus gave the site of Caesarea Maritima to Herod in 30 BCE. During the twelve years between 22 BCE and 10 BCE, Herod constructed an entirely new city at the location, which he named “Caesarea” in honor of his friend and classmate.

To distinguish it from other cities built in honor of Augustus that bore similar names, Caesarea was known more formally as Caesarea Maritima or Caesarea Palestine. Other than that, the site was relatively insignificant until Herod began to develop it into a magnificent harbor. Built using materials that would allow the concrete to harden underwater, the 40-acre harbor could accommodate 300 ships.

The city featured magnificent palaces and public buildings, a large marble temple to Augustus, an amphitheater, a hippodrome seating 20,000 spectators, and a theater built facing the sea on the southern side of the city. King Herod also built an artificial harbor with breakwaters 200 feet wide. The southern breakwater extended out from the shore and continued northward in a graceful arc for 600 yards. The northern breakwater extended outward, perpendicular to the shore, for a distance of 250 yards to complete an enclosed harbor of 40 acres. After Alexandria, Caesarea was the best harbor in the entire eastern Mediterranean.

Because of this superb facility and the city’s location on the main caravan route from Tyre to Egypt, Caesarea attracted numerous settlers – both Jews and Hellenized Gentiles from the coastal plain. The city's culture was, as a result, a volatile mix. One segment of the population zealously clung to the worship of the one God while abhorring the presence of the numerous pagan idols required by the religious practices of the other segment.

For almost 500 years, Caesarea was the “capital” of Israel. After Herod, several “prefects” ruled Israel from Caesarea. During the ministry of Jesus, the prefect was Pontius Pilate.

The archaeological recovery of this important site only began recently, however. An Italian team excavated the theater from 1959 to 1961. They recovered an inscription bearing the name of Pontius Pilate (the only such inscription ever found) on a badly eroded stone in secondary use in the theater.

One word can summarize Roman life – spectacle. Everything was grandiose. A funeral became a parade. Since the Roman Empire was so diverse in its make-up, the only way to develop unity among the people was to entertain them in the same way. At the Hippodrome, each team in the chariot races wore different color jerseys. Participants wore the color of their team. At the theater, if a favorite actor or actress wore a broach on his or her left side, attendees did, too. These were ways to support the ones liked most.

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Who is going to o win the he earts and minds m of ourr children? T This was th he problem the R RJs (Religio ous Jews) were w having g with their kids, who w were curiou us about ho ow the rest of the w world lived. The enterttainment co omplexes were w very im mportant sta ages for the e Romans tto ““paganize” the people – training people p to th hink like Ro omans. The ey did it thro ough plays – ttragedy, com medy, and mime. The theater wa as like watcching Saturd day Night L Live.

Hero od the Grea at also cons structed a th heater with a seating ccapacity of 3,500. Acccording tto Josephus s, this is wh here the death of Hero od Agrippa o occurred, a as recounte ed in Acts 12. The ttheater was s covered with w a skin covering c (ve ellum), and visitors pro obably brou ught cushio ons with tthem to softten the ston ne seats. The seating area had lo ower, middle and uppe er levels. A At C Caesarea, the t upper le evel was go one. Plus th he seats we ere not all the same size. Remem mber, in R Rome you sat s by your importance e. The bigger, better sseats were lower and ttoward the center.

Y Your seat made m a statement as to o how impo ortant you w were.

Therre was also the pit, the e stage and a structure e behind the e stage. Th he area beh hind the sstage was four f levels high. h The tw wo lower levels were ffor the confflicts of men n and wome en, w while the tw wo upper lev vels were fo or the gods s and godde eses who “m messed” with the peop ple b below. Ente ertainment was w a class sroom and a psycholo gical pagan nization of tthe people.. The R Romans did d not have a public education sys stem, but th hey knew th hat they cou uld win the hearts a and minds of o the childrren by chan nging the way w they tho ought. As th he people b became mo ore and m more indocttrinated, the ey became more and more “shee epish.” Whyy? They kne ew all their b benefits cam me from the e Roman go overnment.. Does this remind you u of any kin nd of politica al ssystem or scenario s you u see today y?

The speakers were w located d in the pit. An echo w wall around the inside a amplified th he sspeaker’s voice v so the e actors on stage knew w what to do o. The acto ors just perfformed. The ey did n not speak. At A the back k of the pit, before the stage, were e a series o of squares a and ovals. The ssquares hou used statue es of great heroes or heroines h of Rome. In tthe backgro ound, a foott lamp lit the stage e for the acttors. The ov val areas ho oused seve eral large brass jars. W When Zeus 21

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a appeared on the top le evel and said, “I am Ze eus!”, a spe eaker would d yell into th he brass jarr. The a amplified vo oice of Zeus s sounded bold and bigger than llife.

o above are e very close e to what th he entire the eater The back stage buildings in the photo w would have looked like e. When Pa aul writes in n 1 Cor. 13 about “sounding brasss” and “ting gling ccymbals” he e is using Roman R ente ertainment imagery. i (N Note: The tingling cymbals was a flat ccopper shee et that could be made to sound like thunderr or a storm m, or a battle e.) In other words, I may sound d like Zeus, but I am re eally Herma an yelling in nto a little p pot. His me essage was that if yyou don’t ha ave love, th hen soundin ng great is all a you are.. Speaking well does n not qualify yyou to b be a leader. Some of the t best lea aders do no ot speak we ell, but are ttremendouss lovers of G God a and his peo ople. Paul started his te eaching by talking abo out where tthe people w were and w what tthey unders stood. Then n he slowly and system matically mo oved to whe ere he wan nted them to o go.

The Roman The eater was always a in pe erfect balan nce. If there e were thre ee columns beside tthe door on the left sid de of the sta age, there would w be th hree column ns beside th he door on the rright side off the stage. The RJs, on o the othe er hand, cou uld care lesss about ba alance. Theyy w would quite happily pla ace two pla ants on one side of a d door and no ot do anything to the otther sside. Some of the “digs s” of David and Solom mon verify th hat perfect symmetry w was not important tto the RJs. Balance an nd symmetrry are very much “wesstern” ideass. Everythin ng in the the eater ssaid “Who you y are, wh here you are e, and aren n’t you prou ud to be a R Roman?” Co onsistency was a also importa ant to the Romans.

R Ev very major city c had the e same com mplexes – th heater, h hippodrome e, and coliseum. Every ything looke ed the same e. It was likke every cityy had a M McDonalds, Burger Kin ng and Wendy’s. It ma ade them fe eel comforta able. t high hlighted the e cultural co onflicts betw ween the R Roman world and the R RJ The theater w world. Jesus never we ent to a thea ater. Why? Because h he was an R RJ.

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T The City y of Caes sarea In the e aerial pho oto, you can see the western w layo out of the ccity with Herrod's theate er on tthe bottom, Herod's pa alace on the e left, the Hippodrome H e and the R Roman city in the cente er, and tthe Crusade ers and porrt at the top p. Josephus s called thiss a "most m magnificent palace�.

The pool in the center, which would have h been ffilled with frresh water, was nearlyy O Olympic siz ze. A statue e once stood d in the cen nter. Paul m may have been impriso oned on the e g grounds of this palace (Acts 23:35).

When the Roma ans assume ed direct co ontrol over Judaea in C CE 6, Caessarea became not o only the cap pital of the province, p but the head dquarters fo or the Roma an legions stationed in n JJudaea. Although it is assumed th hat Caesarrea also serrved as the official ressidence of th he R Roman gov vernor, docu umentary evidence e is lacking prio or to the ad dministration n of Pontiuss Pilate ((CE 26-36).. It was from m Caesarea a that Pontiius Pilate se erusalem fo or the Passsover et out for Je ffestival during which he sentence ed Jesus to be crucifie d.

To th he right side e of Caesarrea was the e Crusader Wall of Ca aesarea. On ne would ussually b build a fortiffication on top t of a hill. However, there were e no hills in this area, sso the soluttion w was to build d a wall – a rampart. The T Crusade er wall had slits for the e archers. T The rear of the slit w was hollowe ed out so th he archers could shoo ot in many d directions. T There was a also an ope ening tthat allowed d the archer to pour ho ot oil on any ybody trying g to scale tthe wall. Th he tide provvided tthe water fo or the moat. Sewer line es from the e building em mptied into the moat a and the tide e w washed eve erything aw way. Also se ee photo on n page 270 0.

T The Fou ur Teams s Neede ed to Tak ke a City y Acco ording to an n existing do ocument fro om the firstt century BC CE, the Rom mans had a ssystem to conquer c a city. It requirred four tea ams.

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Team 1 – The Sappers Sappers were experts in the demolition of field fortifications. The sappers looked for the sewer vents in the walls. They covered their heads with a shield, ran to the sewer vent and climbed in. Once inside, they began to “sap” the bottom of the wall by chiseling out the mortar between the bricks or stones to loosen them. If they weren’t really good at their job, this became a noreturn mission, because the wall would collapse and crush them. See photo on page 270.

Team 2 – The Casters The Casters removed the body of the dead sapper and the pile of stones to create a breech in the wall.

Team 3 – The Infantry The Infantry entered the breech and street by street take the city in the name of their flag.

Team 4 – The Captains and Governors Arriving just in time to take the credit for the victory, the captains and governors set up two poles – one for the gallows, the other for raising the flag. They used the gallows on anyone who would not salute the flag on their flag pole.

These four groups were understood in a letter to the Corinthians in 2nd Corinthians 10:3-6. Paul is talking about spiritual warfare, but he uses the same imagery as taking a city.

Paul is basically saying, “Guys you know how to take a city. Let me tell you how to take a heart. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds) Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.”

First, in order to pull out the foundations, the old must be removed. Remove the memory of the old stuff and get it out of your life. Then live one thought at a time (street by street). Resist temptation. Every little step you take is important for you to be where God wants you to be. Then become brutal on yourself. Run, don’t walk, from temptation.

Corinth was a military town. There were many active duty military people and a large group of retired military people. They all knew the military language and understood the imagery Paul was using. When Paul wrote, he used a lot of entertainment imagery as well as military imagery. He was a master at picking out what the gospel was about and putting it into words that the people he was addressing would understand. Paul always spoke or wrote to the people where they were. Another example is in Thessalonians. Thessalonica had a big problem with counterfeiting. So Paul told the Thessalonians to be an imitation of who Jesus was and not a knock off.

Supplying Caesarea with Water Despite its many advantages, Caesarea lacked one essential element needed by all major settlements in the Levant – the group of countries bordering the eastern Mediterranean 24

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ffrom Turkey y to Egypt. There was no nearby source of ffresh waterr – springs o or rivers. A p passive colllection of ra ainwater wo ould not only have bee en insufficie ent to meet the person nal n needs of a city c the size e of Caesarrea, it also would have e failed to e ensure the ssurvival of tthe e extensive fields of graiin and date groves forr which the city also be ecame famo ous.

A len ngthy aqued duct was bu uilt to channel water frrom springss at the basse of Mt. Ca armel n nearly 10 miles m away. In order tha at the water would flow w by the pu ull of gravityy, the aqued duct w was built on n a series of o arches wiith the grad dient carefully measure ed. In later years, Had drian a and the Cru usaders atta ached addittional channels to Herrod's aqued duct.

P Promine ent in Ch hurch History Caes sarea was also a promin nent in early y church hisstory. The ffirst Gentile e (the centu urion C Cornelius) was w baptize ed here by the apostle e Peter (Actts 10). The apostle Pa aul not only p passed thro ough Caesa area on sev veral of his journeys j (A Acts 9:30; 1 18:22; 21:8--16), but wa as also imprisoned here by the e governors s Felix and Festus beffore going tto Rome to appeal his case b before Nero o (Acts 23:2 22-26:32).

Relations betwe een the Jew wish and no on-Jewish in nhabitants of Caesare ea were alw ways a acrimonious s. The dese ecration of the t synago ogue and the massacre e of some 2 20,000 Jew ws was tthe primary cause of th he First Jew wish Revoltt (CE 66–70 0), which en nded with the destructtion of b both Jerusa alem and th he Second Temple.

T Th he Roman g general Vesspasian, wh ho was sent to ccrush the Revolt, R made e Caesarea a his headq quarters unttil his legion ns declared d him empe eror tthere in CE 69. His son n, Titus, wh ho led the fiinal assaultt on Jerusa alem, conde emned 2,50 00 Jews 25

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to fight with wild beasts in the amphitheater in Caesarea in celebration of Domitian’s (his brother’s) birthday. Caesarea also witnessed the execution of many of the Jewish captives of the Second Jewish Revolt (CE 132–135), including Rabbi Akiva, one of the greatest religious leaders of Jewish history. He was executed along with all of his disciples.

During the second century, Caesarea had enough Christian inhabitants for the city to become the seat of a bishop. In the third century, a major center of Christian scholarship was founded in Caesarea by Origen. Later in the century, Pamphilius created a library at Caesarea, which was second in size only to the renowned Library of Alexandria. One of Pamphilius’ pupils, Eusebius (CE 260–340), became both the first church historian and the first biblical geographer. Indeed, without the survival of his masterpiece, the Onomasticon, we would be unable to identify many biblical sites. The city continued to remain prosperous, expanding to its greatest extent in the Byzantine period, until the Arab conquest of the Levant.

With the arrival of the Arabs in approximately 640, the harbor fell into disrepair and began to silt up. However, the fertility of the surrounding areas ensured that Caesarea remained one of the most prosperous cities in the region.

The coming of the Crusaders restored a Christian presence to Caesarea, but the harbor was not restored and they relied on the smaller ports at Acco and Joppa. Control of the city was alternately in Crusader and Moslem hands throughout the 12th and 13th centuries. It was in the latter century that the impressive Crusader fortress we see today was built by the French king Louis IX. Despite its fearsome appearance, however, it offered little effective resistance to the assault of the Mameluke Sultan Baybars of Egypt. Following the withdrawal of the remaining Crusaders by sea to Acco, Baybars completely destroyed the city in 1265.

For hundreds of years after the final destruction of the city, ships and boats were employed by residents of other coastal towns to remove many of the beautifully worked stones from the ruined structures. The aqueducts that had supplied the city with water for more than 1,000 years were allowed to become obstructed and fall into disrepair. No longer able to flow through the aqueducts, the springs turned the region north of Caesarea into a swamp. Bereft of its life giving water, the area surrounding the city became barren and covered by sand dunes. The site remained abandoned until the Ottoman Turks resettled Moslem refugees from Bosnia there in 1878. The only surviving remnant of their village is the mosque, which can be seen near the sea.

Caesarea and Cornelius Caesarea is also an important setting for one of the most important stories in the Bible – Cornelius.

Acts 9:32-43 Aeneas and Dorcas As Peter traveled about the country, he went to visit the saints in Lydda. There he found a man named Aeneas, a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight years. ‘Aeneas,’ Peter said to him, ‘Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and take care of your mat.’ Immediately Aeneas got up. All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord. In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which, when translated, is Dorcas), who was 26

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always doing good and helping the poor. About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, ‘Please come at once!’ Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room.

All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them. Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, ‘Tabitha, get up.’ She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called the believers and the widows and presented her to them alive.

This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.

These verses set up what happens in chapter 10. God was beginning to work on the legalism problems of Peter. He was trying to help him break through the old habits and beliefs. God had made some “big” changes in Peter’s life and he was now beginning to concentrate on the smaller things. Big things and small things, they all matter and bring value.

In the end, what matters is not our performance, but our heart.

In verses 32 and 33, Peter was generally addressing a Gentile audience. The Gospel has spread. Peter came to Lydda to see a man who had been paralyzed for eight years.

There probably were other people in Lydda who were paralyzed, but God arranged for this meeting with Aeneas for Peter. This encounter made it to the pages of the Scripture, but there were other “behind-the-scene” things going on that were just as important.

Unlike Peter’s public healing in chapter 3, this was a very private affair. Both healings were God inspired and both healings were powerful. Peter tells Aeneas he had been healed

by Jesus in vs. 34. Peter took no credit for this event. The people of Lydia saw the results and in vs. 35 and turned to the Lord.

Why would the Holy Spirit descend on these people if salvation was not for everyone?

Because Joppa was an important harbor city, the cedars of Lebanon were floated to Joppa for the temple of Solomon built in Jerusalem (2 Chron. 2:16). It is also the city Jonah left on his ill fated trip (Jonah 1:3) and where Peter receives his calling to the Gentiles.

The disciple Dorcas, in vs. 36, made an enormous impact on her community in Joppa by making robes and other clothing to help the poor. When she died, her body, as was customary, was placed in the upper room. The room was full of mourners whom she had helped. Joppa is near Lydda, and when it was learned that Peter was in Lydda, several disciples went to him and urged him to come to Joppa.

When he arrived, Peter was taken to the room in which Dorcas was lying. The widows (mourners) showed Peter the robes and other clothing Dorcas had made. Although Jewish customs would not allow Peter to touch a dead body because he would be considered unclean, he prayed and turned toward the body of Dorcas and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Peter took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. The news of this event spread all over Joppa.

Peter stayed in Joppa for a while, living with a tanner named Simon. It is significant that Peter stayed at a tanner’s house because tanning involves contact with dead animals. Peter was beginning to break down old customs that did not adhere to Jewish religious traditions.

This was preparation for what will happen to Peter in the next chapter.

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Acts 10:1-16 Cornelius Calls for Peter At Caesarea, there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!” Cornelius stared at him in fear. ‘What is it, Lord?’ he asked. The angel answered, ‘Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon, who is called Peter. He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.’ When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa. Verses 1-8.

This is one of the more important stories in the Bible. Everything that happened to Peter happened in threes – three denials, three questions, and now in vs. 7, three people showed up at Peter’s door.

Cornelius was a Roman officer stationed in Caesarea. He was in command of 100 men. Because of frequent outbreaks of violence, Roman soldiers had to be stationed in Israel to keep the peace. This was a temporary assignment for Cornelius. In time, he would be returning to Rome. The Romans were hated as conquerors and did not get along well with the Israelites. Cornelius was in a very difficult position. He was an officer in the Roman army, and his temporary home was in Caesarea.

During his time in Israel, however, God had been working on his heart. Cornelius was a Gentile who wanted to understand the God of the religious Jews. He had the reputation as a godly man who put his faith into action, and he was respected by the Jews. Cornelius actively sought God, he revered God, he was generous in meeting the needs of other people, and he prayed. He would go to the synagogue, but could not enter because he was not circumcised.

God told Cornelius to send for Peter because Peter would give him more knowledge about the God he was already seeking. God answers the sincere prayers of those who seek him by sending the right person or the right information at the right time.

Peter’s Vision While God was working on Cornelius, he was also working on Peter. About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. Then a voice told him, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’

‘Surely not, Lord!’ Peter replied. ‘I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.’ The voice spoke to him a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’ This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven. Verses 9-16.

According to Jewish law, certain foods were forbidden to be eaten (Lev. 11). These food laws made it difficult for Jews to eat with Gentiles without risking defilement. In fact, the Gentiles themselves were often seen as “unclean.” Another interesting point is the sheet that Peter saw coming down came down three times. It had four corners. Peter was a fisherman. A fisherman’s sail also had four corners.

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Acts 10:17–33 While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there. While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, ‘Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.’ Peter went down and said to the men, ‘I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?’ the men replied, ‘We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to have you come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.’ Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.

Peter obeyed. He received the messengers. He gave them rest and treated them as guests.

Peter at Cornelius’ House When Peter entered the home of Cornelius, he broke a long list of Jewish laws. This vision meant that he should not look upon the Gentiles as inferior people whom God would not redeem. This is a key event in the spreading the Gospel to all people. Before having this vision, Peter would have thought that a Gentile Roman officer could not accept Christ.

Afterwards, he understood that it was his responsibility to go with the messengers into a Gentile home and tell Cornelius the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ. The next day, Peter started out with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa went along.

The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. But Peter made him get up. Stand up, he said, I am only a man myself. Talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. He said to them: You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?

Cornelius answered: Four days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me and said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. Send to Joppa for Simon, who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.’ So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us. Verses 24-33.

Acts 10:34-48 Peter at Cornelius’ House Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism, but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached –how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

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We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.

They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles for they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said, ‘Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.’ So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.

Peter confessed that he was not comfortable, but here was an eager audience and he could not hold back his message. He had no sooner started sharing the gospel when God gave overwhelming approval by filling that Roman family with the Holy Spirit. Peter saw he had no choice but to baptize them and welcome them as equals into the growing Christian church. Peter knew that Christ died for all, not just for the Jews. But the message goes to the Jew first. Thus, another step had been taken to carrying the gospel to the rest of the world.

God seeks each of us one at a time. This was the time for Cornelius and it became part of the record of Luke. We may not be part of God’s Bible, but each of us is part of his story.

Mount Carmel Just because the pre-trip brochure lists the sites that will be covered on the trip, you are not guaranteed to visit that site. Many factors can alter the plan, the most common of which is the weather – especially in northern Israel in early November. Megiddo was in the brochure, but wandering around an archaeological site in a severe thunderstorm is not smart.

So we scratched Megiddo and added Mt. Carmel to our agenda. How cool was it to be on Mt. Carmel, with a nearby thunderstorm, and watch Randy “call down fire.”

There are very few stand alone mountains in this land. Most mountains are part of a ridge. Mount Carmel, which literally means “God’s vineyard,” (God waters it) is a mountain range that runs about 13 miles southeast in the western Jezreel Valley. This part of Israel receives 30 inches of rain each year and is the most heavily forested area in the country. The Mt. Carmel range heads out to the sea, forming a land mass known as the Antelope’s Nose. It is in the northern part of the country and forms the northern boundary of the Jezreel Valley.

The stone on Mt. Carmel has a high lime and phosphorus content, which means that it can literally catch fire.

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In So ong of Solomon 7:5, Thine T head upon thee iis like Carm mel, and the e hair of thin ne h head like pu urple; the king k is held in the galle eries.

The phrase “like e Carmel” means m that her head w was like a lo ot of natura al vegetation n. In o other words s, she had a good head of hair. A biblical wrriter’s descrription is ou ut of function – w what does it do? Because of the amount a of rainfall r it re eceives, Mt. Carmel sta ays green m more tthan any oth her part of the country y.

The major intern national tra ade route off ancient da ay, the Via Maris, passses close b by to M Mt. Carmel.. Because of o its fertility y, the surro ounding land d is also kn nown as the e “breadbassket of Israel.” Mou unt Carmel stands as a high point in this stra ategic area. Looking a at the fertile e JJezreel plain and Mount Carmel’s s ancient olive trees to oday, it is ea asy to see why this pla ace ssymbolized fertility and d blessing to t God’s pe eople. It is p pictured in tthe Bible ass a beautifu ul and ffruitful area. It shall blo ossom abun ndantly, and d rejoice evven with joyy and singin ng: the glorry of L Lebanon sh hall be given n unto it, th he Excellency of Carm mel and Sha aron, they shall see the e glory of our God o of the LORD D, and the excellency e d. Isa. 35:2.

The language of o the judgm ment is tied together w with agricultu ure – treadiing out the grapes o of wrath, or Matthew 13, angels are a the reap pers. In the Bible, God d is a farme er. He is pro ocess o oriented. It matters to God G how yo ou got thing gs done; no ot what you u did. You g grow your frruit and G God picks itt. But the area also sy ymbolized God’s G judgm ment on the e land. On sseveral occasions, G God allowed Mount Ca armel to be ecome withe ered and de esolate as a result of tthe Israelite es’ d disobedienc ce. One of these t droug ghts ended with the fa amous conffrontation between Elijah and tthe prophetts of Baal on Mount Ca armel (1 Kin ngs 18:19-3 39).

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The Story of Elijah and Elisha 1 Kings Elijah was the poor man who dwelled in the caves with the prophets. Elisha was the rich kid, who went looking for Elijah. When he found him, he sacrificeed his yoke of oxen and burned his bridges. This of course meant that he could afford a yoke of oxen.

2 Kings Elisha followed Elijah around like a puppy follows his master. Finally, Elijah asked him what he wanted, and Elisha said that he wanted a double portion of what Elijah had. Elijah tried to avoid Elisha. Elisha performed more miracles than Elijah, but Elijah got more publicity.

It is an interesting story about how an older leader is replaced by a younger one. But before Elijah could minister for God, he had to go Mt. Carmel Seminary. God had to prepare Elijah. Elijah came and God called him into service, but only after he had learned some lessons.

This was the quick course in seminary education for Elijah, all to prepare him for his moment of calling down fire. After Elijah’s big day as he was on top of the mountain on “Sunday”, how do you prepare for “Monday”? Depression came on Monday.

In 1 Kings 16, Ahab married Jezebel, came to power and did evil. Then in 1 Kings 17…And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, ‘As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.’

If Elijah was bold enough to tell Abad that it would not rain until Elijah said it would rain, you would think Elijah was ready to minister for God. But no, he was not ready. God needed to prepare Elijah.

And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.

And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith that is before Jordan.

And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.

The translation of Cherith is “a break.” Elijah deserved a break today. Ravens were unclean birds, but they brought Elijah food. Lesson 1: God did the impossible through the unlikely. “If you do not know I can provide for you, you are not ready to speak for me.”

In the second half of chapter 17, God sent Elijah to Zarephath. Zarephath means “crucible.” So Elijah went from “you deserve a break today” into the fire.

And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, ’Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belonged to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.’ So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, ‘Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel that I may drink.’

And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, ‘Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.’ And she said, ‘As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, 32

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but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.’

This widow had nothing left except to die. This is probably not the person you would choose to hang out with. Lesson 2: God used the unlikely to do the impossible. The rest of this story completes chapter 17.

And Elijah said unto her, ‘Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.’ For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, ‘the barrel of meal shall not waste, and neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.’ And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.

And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah. And it came to pass after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.

And she said unto Elijah, ‘What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?’ And he said unto her, ‘Give me thy son.’ And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. And he cried unto the LORD, and said, ‘O LORD my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?’

And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, ‘O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again.’

And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, ‘See, thy son liveth.’ And the woman said to Elijah, ‘Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth.’

In two seminary classes, Elijah learned that God would provide when no one thought he could, and he would use things no one thought he could use. My God can!

The Four Stories of Kings 18 Kings chapter 18 is comprised of four stories. The first one is about Obadiah. Obadiah was weak and afraid to do what Elijah asked him to do. Elijah asked Obadiah to go get Ahab.

Obadiah was afraid that if he brought Ahab to Elijah, Elijah would not be there and Ahab would kill him. But Elijah assured him he would be there.

Story 1 – Obadiah And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, ‘Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.’ And Elijah went to shew himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria. And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly: For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.) And Ahab said unto Obadiah, ‘Go into the land, unto all fountains of water, and unto all brooks: peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the 33

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beasts.’ So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.

And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him: and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, ‘Art thou that my lord Elijah?’

And he answered him, ‘I am: go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here.’

And he said, ‘What have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay me?

As the LORD thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He is not there; he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not.’

And now thou sayest, ‘Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here.’ And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the LORD shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me: but I thy servant fear the LORD from my youth.

Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the LORD, how I hid an hundred men of the LORD's prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water?’ And now thou sayest, ‘Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here: and he shall slay me.’

And Elijah said, ‘As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely shew myself unto him to day.’

So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him: and Ahab went to meet Elijah.

And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, ‘Art thou he that troublest Israel?’

Story 2 – Ahab Ahab arrived and asked Elijah, “Art thou he that troublest Israel?” It never occurred to Ahab that his pagan wife (Jezebel) or her hundreds of pagan priests may be a problem. To Ahab, Elijah was the problem.

Randy recalled talking with his pastor when he had retired. Randy asked him what had changed. He said, “Fifty years ago we used to be the answer, and now we are the problem.

Fifty years ago pastors brought the message of God and now we have the audacity to say that God says some things are right and some are wrong.” Ahab had the same perspective because he was estranged from God.

Story 3 – Elijah and the Baal Deity And he answered, ‘I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baal. Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table.’

So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel.

King Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, ‘How long halt ye between two opinions? If the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.’ And the people answered him not a word.

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Then said Elijah unto the people, ‘I, even I only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God.’ And all the people answered and said, ‘It is well spoken.’

And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, ‘Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under.’

And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, ‘O Baal, hear us.’ But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, ‘Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.’

Elijah really mocked the priests of Baal. The phrase “he sleepeth” is also translated as “he reclines”, which can also be interpreted as, “he is sitting on the potty”.

And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.

And Elijah said unto all the people, ‘Come near unto me.’ And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down. And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, ‘Israel shall be thy name:’ And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed.

And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, ‘Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood.’ And he said, ‘Do it the second time.’ And they did it the second time. And he said, ‘Do it the third time.’ And they did it the third time. And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water.

And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, ‘LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.’

Translated, this says: God I know you provide. Now would be a good time to show that you are God. Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, ‘The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.’ And Elijah said unto them, ‘Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape.’ And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.

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Story 4 – Elijah and God and Rain And Elijah said unto Ahab, ‘Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.’ So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, And said to his servant, ‘Go up now look toward the sea.’ And he went up, and looked, and said, ‘There is nothing.’ And he said, ‘Go again’ seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time that he said, ‘Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand.’ And he said, ‘Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down that the rain stop thee not.’

And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel. And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

The Mission Impossible Assignment 1 Kings 19 is all about surviving the Monday after a great Sunday. It is about having your greatest moment and then going into depression. On Sunday you are on top of the mountain, but on Monday you will be back in reality, down in the valley, in the real world.

Chapter 19 is really about clinical depression. Elijah runs to the desert. He fears, he has thoughts of dying, he is excessively tired, and he feels utterly rejected. These are four symptoms of classic depression. God did not tell Elijah that he needed prayer time with brothers and sister. He told Elijah to go to sleep and when you wake, there will be food. Eat and go to sleep. When you wake there will be food. Eat and go to sleep. Worn nerves and a tired body is never a sign that God left you. They are signs that your body is wearing out.

But there is a little more to the story. It is about Elijah’s 3,000-year assignment, which is truly a “Mission Impossible”… and it’s not accomplished yet.

As King David’s life was drawing to a close, the Lord chose his son Solomon to succeed him. It was the time of Israel’s closest approximation to the Messianic Kingdom promised by God. There was peace in the land and Israel’s influence in the world was without parallel. Kings from every land came and paid homage to Solomon, whose wisdom was legendary. Solomon reigned in peace and prosperity for 40 years, but toward the end of his reign he began to pay the price for his one act of disobedience.

The Lord had forbidden the Israelites from marrying foreign women, knowing that they would bring pagan gods into Israel and lead their husbands into false religion – 1 Kings 11:2.

In violation of the Lord’s prohibition, Solomon had taken 700 wives and 300 concubines – many of them foreign – and had permitted them to worship their own gods. Some of the women even built idols on a hill east of Jerusalem. This angered the Lord and caused a civil war in Israel that resulted in the Kingdom being divided.

Following the death of Solomon, the Northern Kingdom known as Israel and consisting of the land given to 10 of the 12 tribes, descended rapidly into idol worship while the smaller Southern Kingdom known as Judah and consisting of the land given to the remaining two tribes (Judah and Benjamin), remained faithful to God. 36

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During this time, all those in the Northern Kingdom who remained faithful to God migrated south with the Levites (2 Chr. 11:16) so all the 12 tribes were represented in the Southern Kingdom. The notion of 10 tribes being lost following the subsequent defeat of the Northern Kingdom by Assyria is not scriptural, and any doctrine based on the so-called lost 10 tribes is therefore suspect. But that’s a topic for another day.

For the next 80 years, the people of the Northern Kingdom vacillated between allegiance to God and allegiance to various Canaanite deities, sometimes worshipping all of them at the same time. During Elijah’s time, there had been a drought in Israel for three years, a sign of God’s displeasure with this ongoing flirtation with paganism. Ahab was King of Israel and had married a daughter of the King of neighboring Phoenicia (Lebanon), a powerful and influential woman named Jezebel. She personally supported 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah. It was these prophets that Ahab summoned to Mt. Carmel in response to Elijah’s “invitation.” In the presence of all the people, Elijah (his name means God is Lord) challenged the prophets of Baal to a contest designed to reveal the one true God. Elijah said to them, I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has 450 prophets. Get two bulls for us. Let them choose one for themselves and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire – He is God. Then all the people said, What you say is good. (1 Kings 18:22–24)All that morning the prophets of Baal called upon their god. They danced around their altar and cut themselves with knives, which was part of their religious practice. At noon, Elijah began to taunt them. Shout louder, he said, Surely, he is a god.

Perhaps he is relieving himself or busy or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened. (1 Kings 18:27). This went on all through the day with no response from Baal.

Then at the time of the evening sacrifice, Elijah took 12 stones, one for each of the 12 tribes of Israel, and built an altar for the Lord. He dug a trench around the altar and placed wood upon it. He cut the other bull into pieces and arranged them on the wood. Then he had the people bring four large jars filled with water that he poured on the offering and the wood. Do it again, he said and they did. Do it a third time, he ordered and they did. The water ran down around the altar and filled the trench. And then he prayed. O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that You O Lord are God and that You are turning their hearts back again. (1 Kings 18:36–37).

Talk about a grandstand play. Can’t you just feel the tension mounting each time the altar was doused?

Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil and even licked up the water in the trench. When the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, The Lord – He is God. The Lord – He is God. (1 Kings 18:39). Elijah had them seize the pagan prophets and execute them according to Mosaic Law (Deut 13:1-5). Shortly thereafter, rain fell on the land of Israel for the first time in three years – a sign of God’s pleasure. Jezebel swore out a death curse on Elijah, but God took him alive into heaven. The people later abandoned God again. Judgment this time came in the form of the Assyrian armies, and the Northern Kingdom ceased to exist

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.

At the close of the t Old Tes stament, the e Lord prom mised that E Elijah would d return to e earth tto herald the coming Messiah.

M He e would onc ce again turn the hearrts of the fathers to the eir cchildren and d the hearts s of the chilldren to the eir fathers, o or else God d would strike the land d with a ccurse (Mal 4:5-6).

4 Jesu us said thatt John the Baptist B wass the promissed Elijah ((Matt 17:11-13), a and althoug gh the heartts of many w were turned d to God, King Herod put p h him to death h. Some 38 8 years late er, tthe land wa as struck with a curse.

JJudgment came c in the form of the e R Roman arm mies and the e nation of Israel cease ed to exist.

At the end of his s age, Elijah o once again brought dro ought upon n tthe earth att the Lord’s command,, a and for the third time im mplored the e p people to re epent of the eir sins, and d a again the he earts of ma any turned to t G God. The antichrist wo ould think he’d p put him to death, d but again a God w would take him alive in nto heaven ((Rev. 11:11-12). Judgm ment will ccome in the e form of the e Lord’s a armies and civilization as we know w itt will cease e to exist.

Elijah h used fourr jars of watter tto douse the e altar three e times. Fo our iss the numb ber of the ea arth (by the e e end of the fourth f day itts creation w was comple ete) and the e water can n represent the pouring g out of the e Holy Spiritt (see John 7:373 39). If so, th hen the thre ee dousings s of the alta ar hint at Elijah’s three e missions tto earth, offfering G God’s Holy Spirit and imploring i th he people to o turn their hearts bacck to Him. A After limited d ssuccess, ea ach one end ded in failure and was s followed b by a judgme ent. Each tim me, the Lorrd in H His mercy provided p His people an nother chan nce.

The Millennium is man’s la ast chance; there is no o fourth misssion for Elijjah. But at the e end of the Millennium M in spite of utopian u con nditions with h Satan bou und and 1,0 000 years o of p personal rule by the Lo ord Jesus Himself, H the ere’s still en nough resid dual evil in tthe heart off u unregenera ate man for Satan to mount m a rebe ellion as so oon as he iss freed (Revv 20:7-10). This illustrates man’s m total inability to remain r faith hful to God.. In spite of 7,000 yearrs of historyy filled w with the und deniable revelations off God’s exis stence and d His endlesss patience e in dealing with u us, only the e shed blood d of Jesus is able to make m us fit tto dwell in H His presencce.

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T Tel Me egiddo o In ancient times, Megiddo M was s an importtant city-sta ate. It is also o known altternatively as Tel M Megiddo (H Hebrew) and d Tell al-Mu utesellim (A Arabic). Meg giddo is a te tel (hill or m mound) mad de of 26 la ayers of the e ruins of ancient cities in a strate egic locatio on at the he ead of a passs through tthe C Carmel Ridge, which overlooks o th he Valley off Jezreel fro om the wesst. The nam me Armaged ddon m mentioned in i the New Testamentt may derive e from Har Megiddo (H Hebrew) meaning Mount of M Megiddo.

Megiddo o was a site e of great im mportance in i the ancie ent world, ssince it guarrded the we estern b branch of a narrow pas ss and an ancient a trad de route con nnecting th he lands of Egypt and A Assyria. The area was s inhabited from f approximately 7, 000 BCE to o 586 BCE (the same time a as the destrruction of th he first Israe elites in Jerrusalem byy the Babylo onians, and d subsequent fall o of Israelite rule r and ex xile). One off its claims to importan nce is the fa act that, sin nce this time e, it h has remaine ed uninhab bited, thereb by preservin ng the ruinss of its pre 586 BCE time period without n newer settle ements distturbing them m.

Megiddo o was menttioned in An ncient Egyp ptian writing gs because e King Thutm mose III wa aged w war upon th he city in 14 478 BCE. The T battle was w describe ed in detail in the hiero oglyphics fo ound o on the walls s of his tem mple in Uppe er Egypt. Named in the e Bible as D Derekh HaY Yam, or "W Way of tthe Sea," it became an n important military arttery of the R Roman Empire and wa as known a as the V Via Maris.

The Queen of All Cities in ancient C Canaan and Isrrael

Today, Megiddo M is an importa ant junction on the maiin road con nnecting the e center of IIsrael w with lower Galilee G and the northern region. It therefore remains a site of strattegic imporrtance a at the northern entranc ce to Wadi Ara, an imp portant mou untain passs connecting the Jezre eel V Valley with Israel's coa astal plain.

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Because of its strategic location at the crossroads of several major routes, Megiddo and its environs have been the site of several major battles throughout history. Three of the more famous battles include:  Battle of Megiddo (15th century BCE) Fought between the armies of the Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose III and a large Canaanite coalition led by the rulers of Megiddo and Kadesh.  Battle of Megiddo (609 BCE) Fought between Egypt and the Kingdom of Judah, in which King Josiah fell.  Battle of Megiddo (1918) Fought during World War I between Allied troops, led by General Edmund Allenby, and the defending Ottoman army.

In 2005, Israeli archaeologist Yotam Tepper of Tel-Aviv University discovered the remains of a church, believed to be from the third century, a time when Christians were still persecuted by the Roman Empire. The remains were found at the Megiddo Prison, located a few hundred meters south of the Tel. Among the finds is a large 580-square-foot mosaic with a Greek inscription stating that the church is consecrated to "the God Jesus Christ." The mosaic is very well preserved and features geometrical figures and images of fish – an early Christian symbol. It is speculated that this may be the oldest remains of a church in the Holy Land. The Israeli authorities are currently speculating about moving the location of the prison.

An inscription in the Megiddo church mentions a Roman officer, Gaianus, who donated his own money to have a mosaic made. The anthropologist Joe Zias, former curator for the Israeli Antiquities Authority, said, "My gut feeling is that we are looking at a Roman building that may have been converted to a church at a later date." On the other hand, persecution of Christians was sporadic in the Roman Empire during the early third century. The archaeological evidence is pointing to a later date placing the church in the last quarter of the third or first quarter of the fourth century.

Archaeologists working in Megiddo have unearthed an incredible 25 layers of settlements built on top of each other covering a period of some 35 centuries. The city of Megiddo dates back roughly 5,000 years. The city ceased to exist after the Persian invasion of Palestine some 2,300 years ago and, today, nothing is left but the ruins of what once was a regional administrative and military center during the reign of King Solomon.

Megiddo's long history is related to its strategic position overlooking the Via Maris, one of the main routes used for travel between Egypt, Syria and Mesopotamia. This place is referred to in the New Testament as Armageddon, a name St. John derived from the Hebrew for Mount Megiddo, Har Megiddo. According to the book of Revelation, this is the place where the last great battle will be fought when the forces of good will triumph over evil.

The first people to inhabit Megiddo arrived during the Neolithic period. A watershed period occurred in the 20th century B.C.E. when it became a fortified city-state. Egypt later dominated the area then known as Canaan and massive walls were built around the city, which indicate Megiddo had become wealthy and required protection.

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Botttom of Foru um

Megiddo o is first me entioned in the t Bible in n Joshua 12 2:21. At the e time, the ccity was inh habited b

by Canaanites. It later came unde er the contrrol of King S Solomon, th hough there e were som me ccontroversy y as to how much of a connection n he had to the remain ns that have e since bee en d discovered. The Israelite connecttion to the city c ended a around 732 2 BCE when n the Assyrrians cconquered the Northerrn Kingdom m. Though the city wass destroyed d and rebuiltt several m more ttimes, it gra adually decllined in sign nificance. Most M recenttly, Megiddo o was the p place where e B British Gene eral Edmun nd Allenby launched l his attack ag gainst the T Turks in 191 17. It also sserved a as a base fo or Israeli forces in the 1948 war.

Today, as a it was in ancient tim mes, water is i vital to th he security a and surviva al of Israel.

E Evidence off this depen ndency has s been unco overed at m many archae eological siites through hout tthe land in Megiddo.

M An A ingeniou us system was w devised d so that th he townspeo ople would not h have to leav ve the safety of the citty walls to collect c wate er. A vertica al shaft wass dug within n the ccity to the depth d of the nearby spring and the en a tunnell was built cconnecting to the wate er ssource. You u could walk down 183 3 steps into o the 120-fo oot shaft an nd then alon ng the 215-foot ttunnel to ge et your wate er.

Z Zippori (Sep phoris s) Zippo ori may hav ve been a weather-rela w ated additio on to the scchedule, or it could have b been on Ra andy’s sche edule from the t outset. Either way it was vital in understa anding how w the p people lived d in those tiimes. Zippo oroi was under constru uction when n Joseph an nd Mary mo oved ffrom Judah up into the e area of the e Galilee. Joseph J prob bably settle ed in Nazare eth – a sma all vvillage on th he next ridg ge opposite e neighborin ng Zippori – because h he knew he e could find work.

While e Zippori was w a large, lavish and upscale citty, the neig ghboring community off N Nazareth was w small, simple and humble. h Mo ost of the sccholarly wissdom todayy believes that JJesus and Joseph J probably lived in Nazareth, but workked in Zippo ori. They prrobably wou uld not h have been involved i in building the e houses, but b would h have worked d outside th he city cuttiing sstones.

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The city was built under the reign of Herod Antipas and for a while was the capital of the Galilee region. It was an important site for the generation of Joseph, who was a builder – a “techtron.” Since we know that Joseph was a builder by trade, how did we get to the point where he had become known as a carpenter? When you see the area of Zippori, you do not see many trees, but you do see plenty of rocks. The translators of the Bible in the 1611 edition, translated “techtron” as carpenter because England primarily used wood to build things. In Israel, you build with stone not wood. So Jesus probably had bigger arms than we imagine – and purple fingernails, due to carrying rocks and using a hammer. It was the area where Hellenistic Jews and Romans lived. This was the upper crust of society – home to the rich and famous.

Zippori National Park, encompassing the ruins of the ancient Roman - and Talmudic era city of Zippori - is located in the rolling hills of Lower Galilee, west of Nazareth. RJs (Religious Jews) built the town, but HJs (Hellenistic Jews) lived there. The water was supplied by aqueducts.

The city knew many ups and downs. When Herod the Great was consolidating power over the country early in his reign around 37 BCE, Zippori fell to him without a battle. After Herod's death (4 BCE), rebellions broke out against the Romans, but they were quelled and the city destroyed by the Roman governor Varus. Some scholars believe that Zippori learned a harsh lesson during this period of rebellion and thus did not join the Great Revolt of the Jews against the Romans (66–73 CE).

Zippori did not remain in ruin for long. Herod Antipas restored it so beautifully that Josephus Flavius described it as "the ornament of all Galilee." Later, Rabbi Judah Hanasi moved the Sanhedrin from Bet She'arim to Zippori, where he redacted the Mishnah in 220 CE. The sages of Zippori also contributed to the Jerusalem Talmud, which was completed in the fourth century CE. For the Jew, Zippori was important because in the first and second centuries it became the center of Jewish learning. Originally, Jewish scholarship was oral. Rabbis expounded and debated the law (the written law expressed in the Hebrew Bible) and discussed the Tanakh without the benefit of written works (other than the Biblical books themselves), though some may have made private notes (megillot setarim) on such events, say, as court decisions. This situation changed drastically, however, mainly as the result of the destruction of the Jewish commonwealth and the Second Temple in the year 70 CE, and the consequent upheaval of Jewish social and legal norms.

As the Rabbis were required to face a new reality of Judaism without a Temple (to serve as the center of teaching and study) and Judea without at least partial autonomy, there was a flurry of legal discourse and the old system of oral scholarship could not be maintained.

It was during this period that rabbinic discourse began to be recorded in writing. The earliest recorded oral law may have been of the midrashic form, in which halakhic discussion is structured as exegetical commentary on the Pentateuch. But an alternative form, organized by subject matter instead of by biblical verse, became dominant about the year 200 CE, when Rabbi Judah haNasi redacted the Mishnah.

There are many reasons to come to Zippori, but Randy wanted us to see what a basic Roman house for a wealthy family during the New Testament period looked like. Most of Paul’s ministry was directed toward people who lived like this. Paul grew up in the third largest *** 42

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u university to own in the Roman R worrld – Tarsus s. He grew up with a H Hebrew hea art and a Greek ttongue. He learned the e Hebrew Bible B from a Greek tran nslation.

Z Zippori is a huge h excavattion. There was w as much h behind us a as in front off us. You can n see Nazare eth on the hill in n the distance e.

Re estored Tricliimium room in Zippori.

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The Mishnah – or Mishna The Mishnah or Mishna (Hebrew: "repetition", from the verb shanah, or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions called the "Oral Torah". It is also the first major work of Rabbinic Judaism. It was redacted around 220 CE by Judah haNasi when, according to the Talmud, the persecution of the Jews and the passage of time raised the possibility that the details of the oral traditions dating from Pharisaic times (536 BCE – 70 CE) would be forgotten. It is thus named for being both the one written authority (codex) second only to the Tanakh as a basis for the passing of judgment, a source and a tool for creating laws, and the first of many books to compliment the our Bible in a certain aspect. The Mishnah is also called Shas (an acronym for Shisha Sedarim – the "six orders") in reference to its six main divisions. Rabbinic commentaries on the Mishnah over the next three centuries were redacted as the Gemara, which when coupled with the Mishnah, comprise the Talmud.

In 351 CE, the people of Zippori, together with the rest of Galilee, responded to Roman oppression by rising up against Gallus Caesar. The Jews of Zippori attacked the Roman garrison, killed the soldiers and took their weapons. According to Christian sources, Rome’s violent crushing of the revolt included the destruction of Zippori. However, no archaeological evidence of this destruction has ever been found. Evidence has been unearthed of the city's destruction in an earthquake in 363, however.

Christians and Jews lived together in Zippori from the fifth century onward. The presence of a small Middle Ages Jewish community was highlighted by a 10th-century letter found in the Cairo Geniza. The Crusaders believed that Ann (Hanna) and Joachim, the parents of Mary the mother of Jesus, lived in Zippori. Remains of the church they built commemorating St. Ann can still be seen.

The floor in the main or public part of the house has a large mosaic. That is the natural color of the stone; it is not painted rocks. This floor contains the face called the Mona Lisa of the Galilee. The mosaic also tells the story of Bacchus and wine. The floor was in the triclinium – (tri meaning three and clinium meaning to recline). It had three-sided reclining tables. The floor was well decorated, but the walls appeared to be bare. Not so when people lived here, however. If there were laurel leaves above the door, it was a symbol that someone had won a sporting event of some kind. If there were shields or swords on the wall, it would lead you to think that the residents had some kind of military background. Your house told the story of who you were. It is no different today with people hanging photos, pictures and diplomas on the walls of their home.

Three doors opened to the vestibule. Outside was an atrium containing a statue and altar to the goddess Vista. The walls around the atrium had ivy growing on them. People walking on the street would be able to stop and sit in the shade of the atrium.

In a normal house of a Roman businessman, clients came to visit. This was the ‘meet and greet’ hospitality part of the house. On the other three sides were the private parts of the house. Each side extended back about 20 feet. About 50 people lived in a house like this one at Zippori.

The wife oversaw the affairs of the house, the children and the slaves. Remember that this is not a home, but a domus, which is both a home and an office for doing business. There was no downtown office.

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Mo osaic on the floor of the ttriclinium.

side on the porch, therre was a sm mall room th hat housed the death m masks of alll Outs rrelatives. In n these time es, when so omeone die ed, a mask in the likeness of the d diseased w would b be created and hung in n a room. Early E in the morning, a slave would get up and light a ccandle ffor each ma ask. These were called d the crowd d of witnessses – all tho ose people who have g gone o on before. Early E in the morning, clients c starte ed to arrive e in the atriu um. The ow wner walked d out of tthe center door d and ga ave a saluta ation to his clients who o he worked d with durin ng the day.

The word w for client is the same s word that is foun nd in Ephessians 2:19 ffor citizen. F Fellow ccitizens, I am today wh hat I am because of my m ancestors rs that prece eded me. T Then the client sat in the door of their anc cestors. Tha at is what Hebrews H 11 is all abou ut. There wa as another side rroom where e the client sat to be se erviced. On nly invited g guests could d come into o the tricliniium.

Therre were two o types of trriclinia. One e had a roun nd table tha at clients w would lay aro ound w with a smaller table to the side. The T other ha ad a series of larger ta ables that cclients would d rrecline arou und. This se etting appea ars only once in the N New Testam ment – Luke e 13-16.

How could you know if the family was s wealthy? T They had a privy (lava atory) close e to the d dining room m. The three e things to remember r about a the h home of a w wealthy persson is: 1. When meeting the t owner of o a house, you would see a crow wd of witnessses.

2. The owner would start the day with a salutation to the citize ens/clients. Remembe er, each letterr from Paul started witth a salutatiion. In orde er to see the e order in w which Paul g gives the salutation, s go g to Roma ans 1:1-9. You Y were a stranger to o God, but n now you are ea fellow w citizen.

3. The house said one thing: Who am I! Who are w we!

N Nazareth If Zip ppori was th he upper crrust, then Nazareth wa as the otherr side of the e tracks. Th his is a vvivid examp ple of the co ontrast betw ween those e who had a lot of wea alth and those who had d very little.

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Matthew 2:19-23 reads: After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead.’

So Joseph got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go back to Bethleham. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."

Jesus was not a Nazarene because he grew up in Nazareth. Nazareth is Nazareth because the Ne-tser or Na-tsar clan grew up there. Netser means the “shoot of the branch”. In other words, Jesus was a Netser. He was a Nazarene because of his clan’s name, not because of where he grew up. He would have been a Nazarene wherever he lived. The Netser also settled in two areas in the Golan Heights. However, this part of history is still a little uncertain because of the quality of the early excavations of these sites.

There have not been many digs in Nazareth. Most of the ones we have seen so far have taken place under the Church of the Annunciation. Wherever someone digs in Israel, history will be found.

Nazareth is not mentioned in pre-Christian texts and appears in many different Greek forms in the New Testament. There is no consensus regarding the origin of the name. Most of the early history of Nazareth is that there is none until the time of Jesus. The town is never mentioned by the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonian or the Greeks. In the Gospel of John, Nathaniel asks, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Nothing good ever had. But Nazareth became everything it never was. Today, Nazareth is one of the largest Arab/Christian enclaves in the middle-east.

Archaeological research revealed a funerary and cult center at Kfar HaHoresh, about two miles from Nazareth, dating back roughly 9000 years (to what is known as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B era). The remains of some 65 individuals were found buried under huge horizontal headstone structures, some of which consisted of up to three tons of locally-produced white plaster. Decorated human skulls have led archaeologists to believe that Kfar HaHoresh was a major cultic (religious) centre.

In 1620, the Catholic Church purchased an area in the Nazareth basin measuring approximately 328 feet x 492 feet on the side of the hill known as the Nebi Sa'in. This "Venerated Area" underwent extensive excavation from 1955 to 1965 by the Franciscan priest Belarmino Bagatti, "Director of Christian Archaeology." Fr. Bagatti has been the principal archaeologist at Nazareth. His book, Excavations in Nazareth (1969) is still the standard reference for the archaeology of the settlement, and is based on excavations at the Franciscan Venerated Area.

Fr. Bagatti uncovered pottery dating from the Middle Bronze Age (2200 to 1500 BCE) and ceramics, silos and grinding mills from the Iron Age (1500 to 586 BCE), pointing to substantial settlement in the Nazareth basin at that time. However, lack of archaeological evidence from Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Hellenistic or Early Roman times, at least in the major excavations between 1955 and 1990, shows that the settlement apparently came to an abrupt end about 720 BCE. This was the time when many towns in the area were destroyed by the Assyrians.

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Many books state that Nazareth is at the top of a ridge. That is correct as indicated in the Gospel of Luke 4:29, [And they led Jesus] to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong. Some books state that Nazareth is at the bottom of a valley, which is also correct. Nazareth is shaped like a bowl. You have to climb up the outside then go down the inside to get to the bottom where old Nazareth is. The spring known as Mary’s well is located at the base of the bowl. Until 1950, this is where people came with their bowls to get water for the day.

Modern-day Nazareth is nestled in a natural bowl that extends from 1,050 feet above sea level to the crest of the hills about 1,600 feet. Nazareth is about 16 miles from the Sea of Galilee and about 5.6 miles west of Mount Tabor. The Nazareth Range, in which the town lies, is the southernmost of several parallel east-west hill ranges that characterize the elevated tableau of Lower Galilee.

Nazareth is the largest Arab city in Israel. Until the beginning of the British Mandate in Palestine (1922–1948), the population was predominantly Arab Christian (majority Orthodox Christians), with an Arab Muslim minority. Today, Nazareth still has a significant Christian population, comprised of Maronites, Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholic, Melkite Eastern Catholics, Anglicans, Baptists, Evangelicals and Coptic, among others. The Muslim population has also grown, for a number of historical factors, that include the city having served as administrative center under British rule, and the influx of internally displaced Palestinians absorbed into the city from neighboring towns during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

Nazareth's population remains almost exclusively Palestinian Arab. The Mayor is a Palestinian Christian. The Israeli government has designated a Nazareth metropolitan area that includes the local councils of Yafa an-Naseriyye to the south, Reineh, Mashhad and Kafr Kanna to the north, Iksal and Nazareth Illit to the east and Migdal HaEmek to the west.

Together, the Nazareth metropolis area has a population of approximately 210,000 of which over 125,000 (59 percent) are Israeli Arabs, and 85,000 are Israeli Jews (41 percent), making it the only urban area with over 50,000 residents in Israel where the majority of the population is Arab.

The Church of the Annunciation is the largest church in the middle-east. According to the Gospel of Luke, Nazareth was the home of Joseph and Mary and the site of the Annunciation (when Mary was told by the Angel Gabriel that she would have Jesus as her son); in the Gospel of Matthew, Joseph and Mary resettled in Nazareth after fleeing to Egypt from their home in Bethlehem. The differences and possible contradictions between these two accounts of the nativity of Jesus are part of the Synoptic Problem. Nazareth is also allegedly where Jesus grew up from some point in his childhood. However, some modern scholars argue that Nazareth was also the birthplace of Jesus.

The Church of the Annunciation The Church of the Annunciation sits on top of a cave-style home where tradition says Gabriel spoke to Mary. Also in Nazareth is a Greek Orthodox Church, which sits on top of the traditional home of Joseph. Randy does not know if these are the exact sites of these events, but they are probably within a hundred feet or so. During the Byzantine era, the church was built off to the side of the cave. The Crusaders tore down the Byzantine church and built a huge church over the cave-style home. Part of the church still stands today and is part of the modern era church.

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When thiis church was w built 50 years ago,, it cost six million dollars. Many p people tthought it was w a waste e of money. The Catho olic Church trained the e locals in th he skills needed tto build the church. Th hose skills were w then ta aken in to the commun nity to build d modern da ay N Nazareth. So S the inves stment paid d off in man ny ways.

T The modern n church wa as designed d to say fou ur things.

1. Mary y. In the arrchitecture you y will see e the use off “A’s”, “V’ss”, and “M’s” – Ava Ma aria.

2. Multti-national. Inside the e church are e many Mad donna and Child scen nes from a m multinatio onal concep pt.

3. Modern. They desired a church c with a modern day look. m is woven w into the artworkk of the chu urch. Man iss symbolize ed by 4. Mysttery. The mystery the color c red, while w Heaven is symbolized by the e color blue e. A mixture e of red and d blue make es purple – a symbol of o the relationship betw ween God a and man. T The color go old is the glory g of God d.

The doo ors to the ch hurch may be the bestt doors to a any church yyou will eve er see. The ey d describe the e life of Jes sus. See ph hotos on pa ages 272 ad d 273.

Below w the churc ch was a ca ave-style ho ouse. The ccave-style h houses had d three room ms.

T The pillars were w not pa art of the ho ouse, but were w added because th here was a church built a above it. At the back of o the cave was w a stable and a ma anger (trough or box to hold feed d for a animals). In n the winter, the anima als were allo owed to com me through h the house e and stay in the b back where e their warm mth radiated d throughou ut the house e. But whatt about the smell?

R Remember, this was th he pre-deod dorant era. The people e did not sm mell any be etter than th he a animals. No obody cared d about the e aroma!

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The center area a of the hou use was the e storage ch hamber, wh here large jars were ke ept. If g guests arriv ved, the jars s were take en out of sto orage and p placed in th he front to m make room for the g guest. The guest cham mber was ca alled the ka ataluma.

In the e Gospel, there is a ho ouse in Betthlehem witth no room in the kata aluma. Therre is no inn. There is no innkee eper. We in nvented that character in the storyy. Mary and d Joseph m made ttheir way to o a family ho ome like this one. It is interesting g that when Mary and JJoseph cho ose a p place in Nazareth to liv ve, they cho ose a place e like the on ne where Je esus had b been born.

The first f chamb ber was the living room m, the dining g room, and d bedroom. The walls e extended ou ut and form med a front door. d The average a he ight of peop ple during tthis period w was 5’ 2 2”. Thresh was w on the floor to pro ovide carpeting – thresshold. It was nothing m more than fiield g grass. Therre was a sm mall closet for f cooking utensils. Pa People arents and children slept here. P kknew things s about eac ch other tha at we would d now consiider to be e extremely personal and d p private. (Priivacy is a western w con ncept.) In this period off time, everrybody knew w everythin ng.

N Nobody did anything in n the small town of Na azareth thatt everybodyy didn’t kno ow.

S Summ mary of o Day One We began b the day d looking at a Roma an world. T There were both politiccal challenges and p psychologic cal challeng ges going on o in the bac ckground o of the Bible.. The politiccal challeng ge was tthe Roman world vs. th he Jewish world. w The psychologiccal challeng ge was the question, ““Who is g going to win n the hearts s and minds s of our kids?” As we w walked thro ough this da ay, we startted to ssee the hug ge reality Je esus faced of having tw wo differen t and diversse worlds in n one small place.

Therre was also a personall conflict. We W would likke to think tthat Jesus g grew up in a h happy home e, but it verry likely did not happen n that way. In John ch hapter 1, we e read that the ffirst five followers were e picked up p from John the Baptisst Evangeliccal Moveme ent Incorporated a and that the ey joined Je esus. John chapter 2 is s the story of Jesus tu urning water into wine.. In JJohn chapte er 2, Mary and a Jesus made their way to nea arby Cana. Mary told JJesus what to do.

S She says, “Son, these people hav ve a proble em and this is what I w want you to do about it. Help 49

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them. And Jesus replied “Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour has not yet come. It is a respectful way of saying, “Mom, I will do what you say, but this is not my thing.” Jesus honored his mother and turned the water into wine. By the way, the best line in the Bible is John 2:5, when Mary tells the servants, Whatsoever he (Jesus) saith unto you, do it. That is a great piece of advice. But at the end of this story, we see some resistance.

Do you remember an earlier story that occurred during the childhood of Jesus? He was almost 13. Deuteronomy 16: Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles.

They walked from Nazareth down to the bottom of the Jezreel Valley, about an eighthour journey. They connected with the caravan route over to Hwy 4, and went down to Jericho, a three-day journey. Then they walked 11 hours up to Jerusalem. The men and teenagers walked ahead of the women and the children. This was a very festive time of the year. They all loved it. Jesus traveled with the women and children because he was not yet of age. He was not a teenager.

On the return trip, Mary thought Jesus was with Joseph and the men, and Joseph thought he was with Mary and the children. As it turns out, he was with neither of them. He was back in Jerusalem at the temple. Randy told us this story to remind us that the gospel does not waste words. They got all the way to the base of the mountain in the Jezreel Valley before they realized that Jesus was not with either one of them. What do you think Joseph said to Jesus after he had to walk three days back to get him, miss a week of work, only to be told by his son that he was up to his “real father’s work”? Ouch! I know what that conversation would have been like with my dad. We don’t know that was exactly the way it happened, but Joseph had to know that one day – this day – would come. Mary had to know that one day her son would need to fulfill his mission. They could enjoy him and raised him as their own son, but he was not theirs.

Randy also wanted us to think of Jesus a little bit differently. Being sinless does not mean you get an “A” on every spelling test. In our mind’s eye, we project him as a straight “A” student who never scraped his knees or had a runny nose. But he probably did not look or act as different as you think he did. He grew up not unlike any typical kid, doing and saying typical kid things. Yes, he was God in human skin, but he was also fully human, subject to the same physical limitations as every one of us.

Now look at this exchange with his brothers in John 7:1–9, After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him. But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, Jesus’ brothers said to him, ‘Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.’ For even his own brothers did not believe in him. Therefore Jesus told them, ‘My time is not yet here; for you any time will do. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil. You go to the festival.

I am not going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come.’ Having said this, he stayed in Galilee.

INTERESTING FACT: They are trying to pull him, but he pushes them away. He later goes to Jerusalem in secret.

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Another incident occurred when he was teaching in Capernaum. Mark 3:31–35 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, ‘Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.’ ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.’

I don’t know about you and your mother, but if my mother called me and I did not come, there would be heck to pay. You did not behave like this in a middle-eastern family. There was a problem. And the brothers’ response was that he must have lost his mind. His life was not all nice and easy.

Fast-forward to John 19:25-27. Jesus is on the cross and he looks down and sees the disciple John and his mother. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, ‘Woman, behold thy son!’ 27Then saith he to the disciple, ‘Behold thy mother!’ And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

Now these were not clan-less people. Mary had somewhere to go, but John stayed with Mary until her dying breath. The point is that Jesus’ family and his followers never got along. There was a schism (division, discord) in his life. And he reconciled it at the end of his life. “Family, meet my followers. Followers, meet my family. Now get along.”

The next time we see them, they are in the upper room, and they are getting along.

The place of reconciliation is the cross.

The personal conflict of Jesus was that he could not do the will of his Father and the will of his family. We all have a walk-on part in God’s movie. He is telling his story and we all have a walk-on single frame. The one thing you do not want to do is not be in the spot you are supposed to be in during your part of the movie.

An interesting aspect about the Gospel is that it is not all a bed of roses. If you were a brother of Jesus, you would probably want to see miracles also. Today you have seen how the rich and famous live. The laborers who built the lavish and expensive houses came home to a cave-style house. This is how they lived and how they died. The average biblical life expectancy was 48 to 52 years. Life was short and hard. Living conditions were harsh and simple, and The Most High put on skin and stepped into this world.

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Getting to Know the 12 Disciples Using the four gospel accounts, in this section of the book, we will investigate the background, education and theology of the disciples. It is important to understand how they think. When you understand their thinking, you can begin to understand why they did not understand Jesus.

Q. Why did Jesus choose 12 men?

A. The number 12 corresponds to the 12 tribes of Israel, highlighting the continuity between the old religious system and the new one based on Jesus’ message.

Meet the Disciples Jesus did not choose these 12 men because of their faith because we know that their faith often faltered. He did not choose them because of their talent and ability, nor because of their standing since they came from a wide variety of backgrounds. The 12 men came from eight families, which meant that some were related. The one characteristic they all shared, however, was their willingness to obey Jesus.

Peter. It is interesting to note that, in all four Gospels, Peter is mentioned first. He was a fisherman and anything but “rock-like” at this time. He became the rock in Acts. Peter was the son of Jonas and the brother of Andrew, also a fisherman.

Andrew. Peter’s brother, Andrew was a fisherman and also a follower of John the Baptist.

He introduced Peter to Jesus. It was Andrew who had the contact with the boy who had the fish and loaves of bread.

James and John. The sons of Zebedee, both John and James were also fishermen. John was a follower of John the Baptist. He was probably a teenager at this time. John, James and Peter became the “inner circle” with Jesus.

Philip. A fisherman, Philip told Nathaniel about Jesus.

Bartholomew. Not listed anywhere outside the Gospel, Bartholomew initially rejected Jesus because he was from Nazareth. Many scholars believe that Nathaniel and Bartholomew is the same person.

Thomas. Often referred to as “the twin”, Thomas is commonly known as “doubting Thomas” because he questioned the resurrection of Jesus.

Matthew. Matthew is Levi, son of Alpheus and brother of James.

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James. James was the son of Alpheus and brother of Matthew. He may possibly be the “James the younger” referenced in Mark 15:40. His mother Mary was present at the cross and was one of the women who cared for Jesus’ needs.

Thaddaeus/Jude. Also the son of Alpheus, Thaddaeus/Jude is mentioned in Mark and Matthew, but no other books.

Simon. Simon the Zealot was a member of a group of religious extremists who desired to overthrow Rome. Simon the Zealot was at the opposite end of the political spectrum to Matthew, the tax collector who worked for Rome.

Judas Iscariot. The man who betrayed Jesus, Judas was the only apostle who was not born in Galilee. He was from a town in Judah. It is not enough to just be familiar with the teachings of Jesus. True followers love and obey Jesus.

The Seven Things You Need to Know about the Disciples 1. The disciples were heavily influenced by the Zealots – a group of religious extremists who opposed the Romans. Shortly after the time of Jesus in Gamala – an area east of Galilee – many thousands of people jumped to their deaths rather than become Roman slaves shortly after the time of Jesus. To the west of Galilee is a place where the Romans threw Jews to their death during the reign of Herod the Great just before the time of Jesus. Therefore, the generations before and after Jesus grew up with resentment towards the Romans and therefore very inclined to get caught up in Jewish nationalism.

The sign of Jewish independence was a palm branch. It is found on all the coins during the revolt against Rome. So when they are waving palm branches and saying, “Hosanna, Hosanna,” what they really are saying is, “Get rid of these ‘pasta-eating’ Romans and send them home!”

The disciples had a hard time understanding the meaning of the word “kingdom.” When they thought “kingdom”, they thought “sword”. Why was Peter, a fisherman, the only one with a sword in the garden? Because Jesus told him to bring it! It was hidden under his cloak.

Randy thinks Jesus intentionally allowed them this misunderstanding. There is a spiritual kingdom and a physical kingdom, but Jesus most often spoke of God’s spiritual kingdom, of which the church is now the earthly manifestation. Without the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, it was virtually impossible for the disciples to see the difference.

2. Five of the followers came from the John the Baptist Apocalyptical movement.

They thought the end was near. Their perspective was all Judgment Day and end-of-time thinking. They only understood the Tanakh prophecies of a kingdom nation led my Messiah the conquering King. They had no concept of the meaning of the New Covenant spoken of by Jeremiah and Ezekiel, in which God’s laws and His nature would be imprinted upon their hearts.

3. They were very suspicious of Gentiles. The disciples grew up with a sense that God called Israel first, us, and the rest of the world was a lesser class of people. They believed in salvation by separation. That is why Peter needed God’s direct intervention in Acts 53

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10 before he was willing to go and preach to Cornelius. It didn’t occur to him that a Gentile could have salvation. The disciples were very provincial in their thinking. In other words, they thought that if the world could get their act together, they would look more like them.

4. They were probably wealthier than might be imagined. Some might have the impression that the disciples were country bumpkins. It was the mother of James and John who came to Jesus and said, “When you come into your kingdom, will you put my sons on your right and left?” These people were very status conscious. In an “honor and shame” based society, appearance is everything. Why did Peter and John get into the house of Caiaphas during the trail of Jesus? Because they were known by the High Priest.

5. They had a very collective mentality. This could be seen in their home life. They lived in homes called “insulas”. They did not grow up with private time and private space. A hundred or more people could live in an insula.

6. They wanted to label people. Growing up in Galilean provincial Judaism, it impacted how you viewed or classified people, meaning there was no perceived difference between an adulterer and a woman who sinned. In that society, the disciples in John 8 saw an adulterer, while Jesus would see a woman with needs.

7. The disciples needed to be called more than once. Peter was called three times.

Everything about Peter happened in threes. He was a cranially-challenged disciple. In general, the disciples were slow learners. They were part-time disciples before they were fulltime disciples. There were 70 disciples before there were 12. There was a cut list.

The Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret) Located 700 feet below sea level, the Sea of Galilee is part of a large crack in the surface of the earth – the Jordan-African rift that extends from the base of Mount Hermon to Lake Victoria in Uganda. The Sea is eight miles wide, 13 miles long and 200 feet at it deepest point. A body of fresh water fed from Mt. Hermon is a reservoir and a major source of water for Israel and Jordan. One-third of Israel’s drinking water comes from the Sea of Galilee.

(There is a piece of paper that says if Israel supplies water for Jordan, there will be peace between the two countries).

During the time of Jesus, and around the sea was segregated in to four distinct regions, primarily separated by the “Kosher” side and the “Pig and BBQ” side. Additionally, Jesus spent most of his time in the RJ towns because he came for the lost sheep of Israel.

The Sea of Galilee is also known as Lake Kinneret, Lake Gennesaret, and the Sea of Tiberias. There were more than 40 harbors on the Galilee at the time of Jesus. Although the Sea of Galilee often looked beautiful and calm, many biblical writers described it as “an abyss, a fearsome place of darkness and chaos.”

To the north of the Sea is Mt. Hermon, the largest mountain in the middle-east. It rises over 9,200 feet above sea level. When the cold air at the top of the mountain descends and collides with the warm air at the Sea, wind storms can very quickly develop. In less than 30 minutes, the Sea can go from flat to experiencing six-foot waves. This is especially true during the change of the seasons (Matt. 8:24).

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ce storms understanda u ably scared d ancient pe eople and ccaused them m to avoid lliving Fierc n near large bodies b of water. w Culturral stories often o depictt the sea ass a monstro ous beast a and a p place where e Baal would battle oth her gods. Set S amid this culture, th he Jewish p people also o ffeared the sea. s They were w rooted d in the wild derness, and they saw w the sea ass an alien a and tthreatening power. Few w could sw wim, and eve en fisherma an avoided deep wate er. Not ssurprisingly y, biblical wrriters often used the se ea to descrribe terror a and danger. And in Jessus’ d day, Jewish h people wo ould have re ecognized the t sea as a symbol o of chaos and hell.

The Jordan River flows into the Sea of o Galilee frrom the norrth and exitts to the sou uth. On a map, if yo ou draw a line through the Sea co onnecting th hese two po oints, everyything to the e left is ccalled Galile ee. Accordiing to the Biblical B write ers, when JJesus was in the Galile ee he was o on the w western side (left side)) of the Sea a. Today the e entire reg gion around d the sea iss called Galilee.

W Why is that important? ? Jesus onc ce healed some people e and he to old them to not tell anyyone, b but healed others o and told them to t tell every yone. The re eason for th his is becau use Herod A Antipas had d arrested John J the Ba aptist and was w looking for Jesus. Herod wass the ruler o of the G Galilean Re egion. If Jes sus had hea aled someo one on the w western sid de of the Se ea, he did n not w want the he ealing to become public knowledg ge and expo ose his loca ation. If he healed on the e eastern side e of the Sea a, it would not make any a difference who kne ew he was there.

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Two important questions to ask about healings or about anything Jesus said or did are: 1) “When was it? and, 2) “Where was it?” Having these answers reveal if Jesus is politically astute.

John the Baptist was arrested because he spoke up when Herod Antipas stole the wife of his brother and divorced his first wife. This was “front page” news. So when Jesus was asked about divorce, do you think they were asking about his opinion on divorce in general, or the story in the front page? One of our problems with Jesus is that we often try to make him placeless and timeless, and that is not the Jesus of the Gospel.

Northwest Galilee – Devout Jews These Jews are RJs – Religious Jews. Most of the inhabitants of the Sea’s northwest side were devout Jews. Many synagogues were discovered in this part of the Galilee. In contrast to the secular Jews, who often compromised with pagan values, the RJ’s had an active faith that set them apart. Jesus lived in this area, as did several of his disciples. The Bible indicates that most of his miracles were performed in Capernaum, Korazin, and Bethsaida – three cities that are sometimes called the “orthodox, or gospel triangle” by contemporary scholars. International trade routes – the Via Maris – also ran through the area near Capernaum, allowing travelers to interact with the RJs and to hear the word of Jesus.

Magdala is home of Mary of Magdala. This is both an RJ town and an HJ (Herodian) town.

Northeast Galilee – Zealots Peter’s hometown was Bethsaida. When he was growing up, Bethsaida was an “RJ” town, but it also had a Greek name – Julius. The influence of the Gentiles gradually took hold, however, and Peter later moved his family to Capernaum. Eventually the name of the town was changed to Julius, reflecting the growing Gentile influence.

The Zealots were very religious Jews who believed that it was impossible to serve the pagan Romans while also being faithful to God. They resisted Rome and anyone who sided with the Roman rulers, often using violence. The movement was started by Judas when he revolted against the Romans over taxes (Acts 5:37). He originated from the town of Gamala.

This settlement, on the northeast corner of the Sea, would later grow into a center for the Zealot movement.

Eventually, the Zealots at Gamala were uprooted. During the Jewish Revolts, which began in AD 66, the Roman army sent troops to Gamala. In the panic that ensued, thousands of people jumped off the steep cliffs near the village. The rest were taken as slaves and the Zealot movement died out.

If a line were drawn on a map connecting Magdala and Gamala (southwest to northeast), anything north of that line was “our side” (Jewish) or the “kosher side”. Anything to the south was “their side” (Gentile) or the “pig and BBQ” side. When the Gospel writers would say that Jesus said, “Let us go to the other side,” he was talking about the non-kosher side.

Western Galilee – Herodians Easily visible from the hometown of Capernaum, Tiberias was the regional capital built

by Herod Antipas on the western shores of Galilee. In the Old Testament it is called Rakkat or Hamet. It is the only city around the Sea during the time of Jesus that remains an active, populated city today. The city was shunned by RJs because it was supposedly built on a cemetery, making it ritually impure. During the time of Jesus, the city was HJ and Gentile. We 56

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have no record that Jesus ever came to Tiberias. Later the cemetery was interred and moved.

Today it is RJ. North and south of Tiberias were two “circles”, which means Old Testament location.

To the north was the town of Rakkat. To the south was Hamet, which means “hot springs”.

The Greek word for hot springs is emmaus. There are many emmauses in the New Testament, so when we read, “They were on the road to Emmaus” we need to know which one.

Tiberias was built on a hill overlooking the Sea. Little is known of its inhabitants, but it is assumed that they were “Herodians” who opposed Jesus’ ministry. An aristocratic group, they are said to have supported the Herod dynasty and the Romans who kept it in power. Rome used the Herodians to keep the peace in Israel. As long as Rome remained in power, the Herodians (HJs) enjoyed a position of privilege, so the messianic movement did not please them. They plotted the execution of Jesus because he was a threat to their way of life.

Eastern Galilee – Pagans The northeastern area by the Sea is called “Golanitus” (Golan Heights). It is also the area of Caesarea Philippi. The southeastern side was known as the Decapolis, meaning 10 cities. Though the number of cities changed from time to time, the Decapolis was a group of independent city-states that were thoroughly pagan and Hellenistic. Hippus was inhabited by Gentiles and Jesus never went there. There is an “O” (Old Testament) to the left of Hippus, on the edge of the Sea. That is Aphek, which means “by the Sea.” Gergesa is also a very Gentile city.

Each city controlled its surrounding areas, preaching Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The people of the Decapolis lived very immoral lifestyles, watching lewd plays in the theater, making sacrifices to pagan gods, and attending gladiatorial contests in their coliseum.

Many Jews believed the Decapolis represented the seven pagan nations driven out of the promised land by Joshua (Josh. 3:10, Acts 13:19). Most RJs did not want to be tempted by the pagan culture, so they avoided the area.

On the southeastern side of the Sea is Gadara. It is a major Gentile city of about 35,000 in the time of Jesus. You will read about the Demoniac of Gadara, but although Jesus never went into Gadara, he did visit the region.

Philotera and Senabria on the lower southwest side of the lake are large Gentile cities during the time of Jesus. Jesus never went there.

Mount of Beatitudes If you look at the imagery, you will notice that the landscape changes dramatically from the greens of Ginnosaur by the Galilee sea shore to the brown and black rocks ascending into the hills above Galilee.We have a place with similar black rocks in America; it’s called Hawaii!

A very famous company in America (the same one that discovered the gap in the Watergate tapes and the number of shots fired from a grassy knoll in Dallas) came here to test these rocks.

It was determined that one person, standing in the lower part of this valley with their back to the sea early in the morning, could talk unamplified to some 8,000 people on this side of the valley and 5,000 people on the other side of the valley. The high metallic content in the 57

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b basalt rock amplifies th he sound making m it a natural n amp phitheater. Although w we know tha at JJesus spoke many tim mes in these e hills, we do not know w exactly wh hen or where.

Therre is an eigh ht-sided chu urch atop th his hill. Trad dition says it was the location of the B Beatitudes Sermon by y the sea. Today, it is important th hat the churrch remainss here, othe erwise tthe site may y not be pre eserved and could bec come a com mmercialize ed site. The e church alsso h helps to loc calize an ev vent. If the exact e locatio on where ssomething h happened iss unknown, it is n nonetheless s importantt to rememb ber the event that happened. Afte er everythin ng we know w about tthis site, it actually a may be the ex xact location n where the e Beatitude es were taug ght.

When God esta ablished the e covenant with his pe eople, Mose es climbed a mountain n to rreceive the covenant la aw. Jesus, who came to fulfill tha at covenantt, gave the new covenant g guidelines on o a mountain, too. Bu ut instead of o the wilderrness moun ntain at Sinai, Jesus ta aught o on a hill nea ar Korazin.

Jesu us’ Sermon on the Mou unt gave ne ew guideline es for his “b brides” to fo ollow as the ey p prepared fo or his return n. He challenged them with the Be eatitudes – a list of virrtues that co ould cchange the world. Jesu us knew it would w be difficult for his followerss to live in a an evil world d while tthey awaited his return n. His Serm mon on the Mount M pressented a ne ew battle pla an for confrronting tthat evil. Bu ut it sounded like a stra ange plan: Fight evil w with the wea apons of se ervice and love.

In the e face of violence and d hate, Jesu us wanted h his brides to o demonstrrate mercy, m meekness, and compa assion. By living out th he challenge es of the Se ermon on the Mount, JJesus’ b brides would demonstrrate the gre eatest love of all – the love of the eir spiritual B Bridegroom m.

Jesu us would speak early in n the morning. How do o we know that? By no oon in the ssummer, it is i so hot that you can fry an egg on these ro ocks. Those e who could d not sit ccomfortably y would not stay and lis sten to any yone speakiing. Also, in n the summ mer afternoo ons, tthe winds pick up and interfere with the soun nd, which w would have made it ha arder to hea ar a sspeaker. Also A see pho oto on page e 275.

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Much of our understanding of who Jesus is comes from the Gospels, what he said and did. But if it is true that every word in the Bible is important, then when the Bible provides a location, it also is important. There are 46 specific locations in the Gospels. Why are these locations important? Very often the place where Jesus spoke had something to do with what he said. For example, in Capermaum there are more millstones per square yard than any other place in the country. Either these people were very hungry or they made and exported millstones. So when Jesus said in Matthew 18:6 (also repeated in Mark 9:42 and Luke 17:2) “But who so shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”

Where Jesus was affected what he said.

Matthew has the words of Jesus; Mark has the works of Jesus; Luke gives us the chronology and John gives us the conflicts of Jesus. There are five major sermons in the book of Matthew. The first sermon is in the early part of his Jesus’ ministry. It is Matthew 5, 6, and 7. It is essentially the idea of discipleship – what a disciples of Jesus looks like (behavior).

The second sermon, Matthew 10, tells what the disciples of Jesus should do (ministry). The third sermon, Matthew 13, set at a time when followers were leaving the movement, is a sermon about the meaning of success. The fourth sermon, Matthew 18, is about forgiving your brother and the internal conflicts in relationships. The fifth sermon covers three chapters – Jesus assesses the eight woes of the Pharisees in Matthew 23, delivers the Olivet Discourse to his disciples in Matthew 24, and answers questions about the Kingdom in Matthew 25 The early part of Jesus’ popular ministry took place in this area. Jesus has left Nazareth. Jesus has left Cana. Why did he leave his hometown? Jesus went down to see John the Baptist and picked up five followers. He then left the followers and went into the wilderness before rejoining his followers in Jerusalem for Passover. He then walked with them through Samaria to the Galilee. He turned water into wine and then wandered into Samaria again to see a woman at a well. Early in John chapter 3, Nicodemus came to him at night. The five disciples grew from five to 70. Jesus called and separated 12 and ended up with 11 graduates. In between, thousands came and thousands went. In the early ministry, when he was preaching in Cana and Nazareth, he became very popular. The problem was they wanted to control his message.

When Jesus once said, “You would like me to do the things I did in Cana here in Nazareth, but I can’t.” the crowd wanted to take him to the edge of the hill, throw him in a pit and stone him to death. So he moved on and came down to the Sea where he met up with Sons of the Zebedee Fishing Company Incorporated and its friends. When he came to the Sea, Jesus revealed to them what it meant to be a disciple of his. That sets the stage for Matthew chapter 5. This is the early teaching of Jesus.

What Does a Disciple Look Like?

In Matthew Chapter 5, Jesus reveals the characteristics he expects his disciples to have. Chapter 6 focuses on the practices of the disciples, while Chapter 7 talks about the choices of a disciple. In other words, when Jesus closes his eyes and sees in his mind a disciple, what does that disciple look like? In Chapter 5, Jesus reveals the characteristics he wants from his disciples.

And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him. And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, 59

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1. Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

2. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

3. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

4. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

5. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

6. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. 7. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. 8. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

These are the eight characteristics of a disciple. That is why the church at the Mount of Beatitudes has eight sides. Jesus said that ‘if you are going to be about me, you cannot be about you.’ You cannot be self-dependent. You need to be bankrupt in spirit. You cannot be self-secure. You need to mourn and seek comfort. You cannot be self-reliant. You need to be gentle. You cannot be self-satisfied. You need to desire righteousness. You see the pattern.

Jesus is saying, “Do you want to be a disciple?” If so, it needs to be about me. It cannot be about you. It cannot be about you and me. That is shocking because many people embrace the part of the gospel that helps them the most. But that’s not what Jesus is about. He is about empting the disciple then refilling the disciple with himself.

Jesus later says this about a disciple in verse 13, “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.”

To understand what Jesus meant, consider this. If you take salt and put it away in a closet and come back 15 years later it will still taste like salt. Salt never loses its substance.

The salt came from the Dead Sea in a big clump. It would be set on a table and people would pick out the good parts, leaving behind the lesser parts and mud and dirt. Here’s the point.

Once you take all the salt out of the salt clump, it becomes useless and worthless. Salt symbolizes loyalty. Couples being married in the Sinai today salt their hands at the wedding and say there is salt between them. The salt covenant was a very important loyalty statement throughout the Bible.

In the next verse (14) Jesus says,”Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.” But here is the key in verse 17. “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” Some translations replace the word “destroy” with the word “abolish”. The translation of the original word means to “rip out.”

It is an agricultural term. Also our modern understanding of the word “fulfill” is different than its original meaning. Our understanding means to keep or to do everything you are supposed to do. However, Jesus did not fulfill all the law. He never fulfilled any marriage law. He was never married. He never fulfilled any parenting law. He did not father a child. In Matthew 5:17, Jesus was revealing that the people heard the words of the Law, but missed the point. Now he had come to restore the original understanding of the law. He was saying Not I’m going to put the law back into its proper place.

The Three Laws Christians see the law as one thing. However, Torah is a complete law comprised of three distinct codes.

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Declarative Law. The first law – given at Mount Sinai – was a declarative law: we declare our dependence on you. It is found in Exodus and Numbers. Ten chapters of these books are dedicated to declarative law.

Constitutional and Civil Law. Almost 40 years later, Deuteronomy law was given. Deutero noma means “second law”. It is about how to build a Jewish state and what makes a Jew. Levitical Law. Levitical law is criminal law. This is the law that was later completed, finished or “retired” by Jesus. We still believe in a sacrificial system and it fits all occasions and it is Messiah. The other two codes of law are still operative.

These laws were not for Gentiles. Paul lived and died a Jew. He did not start off a Jew and become a Christian. He lived and died a Jew. In his trial, he says, “I am a Pharisee.” You are not under the law. Jesus did not come to “rip” the law out. Jesus specifically said he was not here to change the law.

Understanding Jesus’ Five Audiences The movies often influence us to think that everybody who listened to Jesus speak was of the same or similar mindset. This was not the case. Each time Jesus spoke, there were probably five different groups of people in the audience.

1. Pharisees. The RJs (Religious Jews) were very ritually precise people. If a Jewish daughter came home and said she was marring a Pharisee, her parents would be ecstatic.

They believed in the law, the prophets, the writings, angels and an afterlife. But they put a weight around people’s neck and offered no help. The Pharisees controlled the synagogue.

They interfaced with the poor, the homeless, and childcare. They did all the important things in the community.

2. Sadducees. These people were the opposite of the Pharisees. They were aristocratic and believed only in the five books of Moses as the law. They acknowledged the existence of the books of the prophets but did not accept them as equal to Moses or as inspired by God. Since Moses did not express clear teaching on the afterlife, they believed that God’s rewards to a person would be experienced during this life rather than after death.

Most Sadducees were wealthy and controlled the temple. Their theology concluded that wealth indicated that God’s favor and blessing. Understandably, their brand of Judaism did not resonate particularly with the poor.

3. Essene. The Essene copied scrolls for a living. They did not like what the Sadducees were doing to the temple, so they took their little red wagon out into the desert to live like monks.

4. Zealots. They were the rabble rousers. If they were alive now, they would have a bumper sticker like, “Make God happy. Kill a Roman!” The Zealots believed that God helped those who helped themselves, so they could not identify with the Pharisees, Sadducees or the Essenes.

5. Herodians. This group was your typical “Why can’t we all just get along?” crowd.

They believed that the Pharisees were too religious, the Sadducees too rich, the Essenes too eccentric, and the Zealots too extreme with their thinking.

When Jesus speaks it is not always to an audience that accepts everything he says.

The Jewish education system is basically founded on discussion and argument – engage facts and argue. The Islamic system is about submission. “When do we eat? When they tell 61

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us to eat.” So when Jesus speaks, it is not necessarily a room of agreement, but more likely a room of argument.

Now go back and read Matthew 5:3-10. When ever Jesus speaks, it is not always to an audience that accepts everything he says. Some people agree with what he says while others dispute it. That is the audience of Jesus.

In chapter six, Matthew says, “Do you not remember the scripture?” For example, it is wrong to commit murder. The people heard the words of Torah but missed the point. Jesus says that hatred is the same as murder, since it results in the death of relationship; thus, it is more important to fix the relationship than to offer God an offering in the temple. In every case, spelled out in Matthew 6, the people missed the point. They heard the words but did not get the meaning, Jesus says, “I say adultery occurs in the head before the bed. If your right eye makes you stumble what should you do? You should pluck it out. And what are the consequences? Think as a Jew. Where could a Jew never go again if he were missing an eye? Into the temple, Jesus is saying that it would be better if the Jews never went to the temple to worship again than to go and perform ritual worship before God, but with their hearts far from him. Jesus is teaching that God wants your heart. He is not impressed with your body.

What Jesus is saying about the law is that God gave the principles that he cares about.

The people heard the words but misunderstood the Father’s heart. The laws tell what the Father cares about. Jesus is saying that he wants to explain what my Father cares about. It is the “order” in life that the Father cares about. It is the principle behind the law that is important. It is all about people and relationships

Korazin Korazin stood in the northwestern corner of the Galilee region, about three miles from the Sea. The nearby cities of Capernaum and Bethsaida joined Korazin as part of the “orthodox triangle,” an area inhabited primarily by devout Jews. Most of the ministry of Jesus was in this area. Why? Because Jesus came for the lost sheep of Israel.

Jesus spent a great deal of time in the triangle area, living in Capernaum and teaching in the towns and villages nearby. Just north of Korazin lay the Mount of Beatitudes, the hillside where Jesus may have presented the Sermon on the Mount.

Ritual baths were used to get “spiritually” clean, not “zestfully” clean. There are at least 42 ritual baths on the south side of the of the temple wall in Old Jerusalem. A ritual bath would look much like the baptism tanks in todays’ churches, with steps leading down into the water and then back up and out the other side. It was actually a small tunnel covered on all sides and on the top. Without clothes, the worshiper would walk down into the water, dunk himself, and then walk up the other side. Then he would dry off and get dressed. A rabbi would declare the worshiper spiritually clean to enter the temple. Mary was spiritually clean before she took Jesus into the temple to be circumcised.

In Luke 11, a discussion took place between Jesus and a Pharisee about washing their hands before a meal. The conversation had nothing to do with cleanliness, however. One rabbi, shortly before the time of Jesus, said in order to be ritually clean to eat a meal, you needed to place a drop of water in the palm of your hand and with the thumb touch the tips of 62

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each finger seven times. Another rabbi, also shortly before the time of Jesus, said that one time was sufficient.

Verses 37 and 38 And as he spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat. And when the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that he had not first washed before dinner.

Verses 39 – 44 And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also?

But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold; all things are clean unto you. But woe unto you, Pharisees! For ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Woe unto you, Pharisees! For ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.”

Verse 45 One of the lawyers said unto him, “Master, thus saying thou reproachest us also.”

Verses 46 – 52 And Jesus said, “Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! For ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe unto you! For ye build the sepulchers of the prophets and your fathers killed them. Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchers. Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute: That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation. Woe unto you, lawyers! For ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.”

Verse 53 – 54 And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently and to provoke him to speak of many things: Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.

Key Note: Jesus’ point was that it’s not about fixing the outside, but fixing the inside. It is about fixing the heart. It is about the proper motive for doing things.

Life in Korazin Studying the ruins of Korazin and other Galilean towns, scholars have been able to piece together a picture of family life in the first century. At Korazin, they uncovered several insula, the building structures that families lived in during Jesus’ time. The roofs were a 63

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ccombination n of reeds, cloth, and mud. m The mud m was sp pread over tthe cloth an nd literally p packed d down with a roller.

In Je esus’ time, families f usu ually lived in clusters o of buildingss called insu ulas, which is L Latin for “islland”. They y were large ely tenemen nts providin ng economiically practiical housing g in d densely pop pulated areas – espec cially cities – where lan nd values w were high. D Distinct from m the “domus”, an n upper-cla ass private residence, r insulas werre inhabited d primarily by the labo oring cclass.

Thes se clusters were w often built around a central courtyard. Grandpare ents, cousin ns, u uncles, and d aunts all lived and intteracted tog gether in th he insula. It is like a gia ant condo w where e everyone ha as the same last name e and eats the same m meal.

As so ons married d, they added to the in nsula. Afterr asking a g girl to marryy him, the so on w would return n to his villa age and add new room ms to his fa ather’s home e. The son, anxious to o be m married, wa aited for the e day when his father declared d th at the build ding was co omplete. He e could tthen finally marry his bride b and brring her to their t new home. As fa amilies conttinued to grrow tthey simply added morre and morre rooms

Synagogue ruins in Ko orazin

Altho ough crowd ded and verry public, the insulas w were actuallly considere ed a higherr sstandard off living than Nazareth. Jesus leav ves the cave e-style hom mes of Naza areth and m moves tto Capernau um where he h lives with his rich frriends. It wa as an insula a like this in n Capernau um, w where Jesu us was living g, where they ripped a hole in the e roof to low wer a man down to Je esus.

The Talmud say ys that a wo oman could d not go passt the seco ond door un nattended. T To go p past the sec cond door was w to go out o to the sttreet. “A good wife is h hard to find and more p precious tha an gemston nes.” You do d that for th he honor off your wife. So your wiife goes to the w well accomp panied bec cause you are a saying she s is valua able. If you find a wom man alone a at the w well, the ma an she is liv ving with is making a statement s a about her va alue.

In Jo ohn 4, we se ee a woman alone at the t well at mid-day. She has had d several m men d divorce her. Remembe er, that in Je esus’ time men divorcced women. Women did not divorrce 64

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m men. Now the t man she e is with no ow does nott even thinkk she is worth protecting. And you are ssupposed to o know thatt. The pointt is this. This living styyle was veryy familiar to o Jesus.

Jesu us presented a beautifu ul picture of heaven w when he said d, “In my F Father’s hou use are m many rooms. I am goin ng there to prepare a place p for yo ou.” (John 1 14:2–3). Th his word-piccture p presented Jesus J as a bridegroom m, preparing g new room ms for his fo ollowers in tthe insula o of h heaven. Wh hen Jesus described d his h second coming, c he e again used d the picturre of a youn ng b bridegroom, waiting for his fatherr’s approval to return fo or his bride e: “No one kknows abou ut that d day or hourr, not even the t angels in heaven, not the Son n, but only the Fatherr.” (Matt. 24:36).

B By using the e familiar im mages of an n insula, Je esus helped d his followe ers to unde erstand the kkingdom of God – a ho ousehold off faith wherre God’s fam mily lives in n close com mmunity.

T The Mos ses Seatt Archaeologists have uncov vered vario ous ruins at Korazin. T The remainss of a synag gogue, sseveral buildings, and an oil-pres ssing installa ation can b be seen today. They ha ave also d discovered a “Moses seat” s – the special s sea at for Torah readers in the Korazin synagogu ue.

Jesu us probably spent a lott of time tea aching in Ko orazin, but the people in Korazin, an RJ ttown, rejectted the mes ssage, thus s the statem ment in Mattthew 11:21-24: “Woe unto thee, C Chorazin! Woe W unto th hee, Bethsa aida! For if the t mighty works, whicch were do one in you, h had b been done in Tyre and d Sidon, the ey would ha ave repente ed long ago o in sackclo oth and ashes. But I say unto you, y it shall be more to olerable for Tyre and S Sidon at the e Day of Jud dgment, tha an for yyou. And th hou, Capern naum, which h art exalte ed unto hea aven, shalt b be brought down to he ell: for if tthe mighty works, w whic ch have bee en done in thee, had b been done in Sodom, it would ha ave rremained until this day y. But I say unto you, that t it shall be more to olerable for the land off S Sodom in th he Day of Judgment, J than t for thee.”

The Seat S of Moses s

Matth hew 23:2, “The “ scribes and the Pharisees P ssit in Mosess' seat.” We e know that when JJesus was saying s this,, it was not just an abs stract conce ept; it was a real thing. You stand d to rread the wo ord, but you u sit down to o offer yourr interpretattion. There is the centter isle with sseating dow wn the side.. The seats s closest to the door we d. Above th he ere the more preferred 65

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men’s seating area was a second level where the women sat behind a curtain with the children. However, this was not for the reason people say. Judaism actually taught that women were smarter than men.

For an explanation, go back to Genesis, which is structured in 11 parts. Gen. 1:1 to 2:3 is the introduction, the prologue to the seven days. Then Genesis 2:4 says this is the story of for the rest of the book. And in those early chapters, who is leading whom? Who eats the fruit first? Who gets the other dummy to eat it after she does? Who appears to be the smarter of the two and the leader? It is Eve. After the fall, God turns to the snake and says that it will spend its life on its belly. He tells Adam that he will spend all his time toiling in the fields. And he turns to Eve and says a very interesting thing. To Eve he says, “Your preference will be to your man.” Translated it means, you will want his job. Now here is the point. The rabbis thought the men needed to be in the room to understand the sermon. The women could be upstairs and behind the curtain and they would still understand the message. But if the women were in the same room as the men, the men would never get it.

So this is the teaching center, not only for worship, but also for teaching for males. It is also the town hall. There are many synagogues, but there is just one Temple. The synagogues are a teaching center, but the Temple is about sacrifice and death, and atonement.

In the Catholic Church the emphasis is on the “temple side” of Judaism. The entire service is about the death, the altar, the smoke. In the Protestant movement, emphasis is placed on the “synagogue side” of Judaism. It is about the teaching and learning. We need both. In a Catholic service, you can sit when they sit, stand when they stand, and sing when they sing and not know anything. But, boy, can they build a church that says God lives here.

On the Protestant side, we walk into a gym with our coffee in our hand. It is not nearly as reverent as a Catholic service, but do we learn. We need both styles.

We make a mistake when we talk about God’s holiness like his mercy or his justice.

God’s holiness is not one of his attributes. The word holy means distinct, like none other. It is the underlying attribute that defines his mercy, his love, his grace, his justice. In other words, all of God’s character traits are determined and defined by his holiness. There is no one like him. First commandment, “There is no other God like me and you will not shape me in any image”.

Why? The number one sin of man is making God with their hands like they want him to be. God’s message is don’t tell me who I am. I am who I am. And who I am is not like you.

The reason we struggle in theology is we try to make God like us, so that we can understand him. The problem is that beyond understanding lies control. Once we understand him, then the next step would be to tell him how he should be.

Never get to the place where your theology tells you God can’t do things. He can do whatever is in his character to do, and you can’t tell him otherwise. In a room like this, in front of Pharisees, God put on human skin and they did not see him because he was defined differently in their minds. God does not go by our rules. He can color outside of the lines if he wants to. What God does defines what is right. When he does it, it is right. He is the definition of right. What he does is good. What God says is wrong defines what is wrong.

Mark 4 In Mark chapter 4, we read that people started to leave the movement. This concerned the disciples so they approached Jesus about his teaching style. He was always speaking to the crowds in parables, and they were concerned that his style was driving the people away.

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So he continued to preach in parables. In Matthew 13: 3–9, Jesus gave them a seven-part story – one parable with 7 illustrations, on the subject of success.

Mark 4: 4–9 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, “Behold, a sower went forth to sow; 4And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: 5Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: 6And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: 8But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. 9Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

The problem is not the seed, or the sower. The problem is the soil. Some people don’t hear. Some hear but later leave. The problem is with the hearer.

Mark 4: 10–18 And the disciples came, and said unto him, “Why speakest thou unto them in parables?”

He answered and said unto them, “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, ‘By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

For verily I say unto you, ‘That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.’ Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.”

Matthew 13 Jesus’ message is that you have a great opportunity, so pay attention. Then he follows it up with another illustration.

Matthew 13: 24–30 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, ‘Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? From whence then hath it tares?’

He said unto them, ‘An enemy hath done this.’ The servants said unto him, ‘Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, ‘Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

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In the first illustration the problem is the hearer. In the second, everybody is not with us and it is not your job to go around and uproot everybody. Now, a third illustration.

Matthew 13: 31–32 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.”

Randy tells this illustration in another way. He says that a man planted a weed in his spice garden. Why? Because a mustard seed is not native to this area. However, it would be to England, where the Bible was translated in 1611.

The disciples would have wondered why anyone would plant a weed in a spice garden knowing that it would grow large, take over everything and that birds would live in it. Jesus was unfolding a comprehensive message to his disciples, step by step. First the problem isn’t the message or the messenger. The problem is the hearer. Second, not everyone who hears is a true listener or believer, and God will be the one to sort everyone out in the end. Third, the One who’s in charge is dealing with issues that the disciples weren’t even aware existed.

Jesus was telling the disciples he was preparing the way for the future, but they had no idea about 20 centuries of Christians yet to come.

Matthew 13:33 Another parable spake he unto them; “The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.”

The disciples would have been familiar with ‘starter dough’ and were well aware that by using it, making bread was much easier. They were concerned that Jesus’ ministry wasn’t working. Jesus was telling them to relax, God cannot be stopped. Armies will march against the Gospel. But they will not stop God. Science will declare him dead. But it will not stop God. This is a leavening influence that will change everything. By the way, leavening is an unlikely substance to be used for the kingdom of God. Because God uses the unlikely to do the impossible, He’s not going to be stopped by the actions of men.

Matthew 13:44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.”

Jesus was saying that this treasure of God’s Kingdom is worth giving up everything for.

The disciples shouldn’t be worried that people were leaving. Jesus was saying, “Let me tell you something. If they are walking away, they are the ones that are missing out. The kingdom of heaven is worth every sacrifice. How could you think we are wrong because they are leaving?”

Matthew 13:45–46 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

The kingdom of heaven is like finding the greatest jewel, and the one who discovers it will give up everything to have it. Then Jesus provides the seventh and final illustration: Matthew 13:47–48 68

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Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.

Jesus was telling his disciples that the kingdom of heaven casts a wide net and pulls in both kosher and non-kosher, but not all who appear to be in the kingdom are truly kingdom material and so some will be tossed aside. What Jesus was communicating was this: if his disciples thought that his ministry was not successful because people were leaving, then they totally missed what Jesus was doing.

Key Note: The seven illustrations were given to address only one issue. They were not seven separate parables. Jesus told one parable with seven different illustrations to get to one point. Success is Jesus’ plan and he knows exactly what he is doing.

Capernaum As you drive from Korazin down to Capernaum, many villages populated the harbors around the Sea. The area is actually less developed and built up today than in the time of Jesus. With a population of between 5,000 and 8,000 people, Capernaum was home base for Jesus during much of his ministry. The streets were eight- to 10-feet wide. So you can imagine they were always busy and crowded.

During the time of Jesus, Capernaum was, among other things, a fishing village.

Fishing was done at night for two reasons. The water is clear. If you can see the fish they can also see you. Second is the heat. It can get very hot during the day. So, they would fish at night, then dry and mend the nets during the day. The village’s other industry was making and exporting millstones.

There were three types of fishing nets – cast nets; drag nets and gill nets. The cast net is launched from a boat. The drag net is set by a boat and pulled from the shore. Sometimes a drag net had bait in the center. This is what James is talking about in James 1:14. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

Here is what he wants you to know. There is a point of no return if you play games.

You may not be thinking about it, but you may be ensnared by it. The third type is the gill net.

It has buoys on the top and weights on the bottom and you scare the fish into it. In John 21:11 “ Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.”

The group had caught 153 fish, but how did they know the exact number? They had a gill net and had to remove each fish by hand, one by one. This is important because a normal gill net would hold about 40 fish before it broke. This was a huge catch and yet the net did not break.

Below are some of the things Jesus did in Capernaum.  Matthew 4:12-16 – Jesus moves from Nazareth to Capernaum  Mark 1:29–31 – Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law  Luke 7:1–10 – Jesus heals the servant of a Roman centurion

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John 4 This time, Jesus was not in Capernaum. He was in Cana, which was almost a ninehour walk up the hill and a 5-hour walk back down. The Bible writers expected the reader to know the geography of the land. The royal official – or nobleman – went to Jesus and asked him to heal his son. That meant he rose before dawn and walked to Jesus. Jesus told the man that his son will be healed. When he came back down the hill, the man met one of his servants who informed him that his son had been healed. The man asked when it happen and the servant said “Yesterday at 1:00”, which was the same time the man had been with Jesus.

What is interesting, however, is the timing. The man stays overnight in Cana before returning home because he “took Jesus at his word.” That took faith. Anybody else would have hurried home. The man could have been home by early evening, but he spent the night. The man’s faith was so big that when Jesus said it was done, it was done.

John 4:46-54 Once more, Jesus visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine.

And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

“Go,” Jesus replied, “Your son will live.” The man took Jesus at his word and departed.

While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.” Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed. This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.

The important thing is we have some great healings in Capernaum. We have Jairus, one of the operators of the synagogue, certainly an RJ. His daughter is healed. We have a nobleman – like a mayor – and probably an HJ. His son is healed. And we have a Roman centurion, who is clearly a Gentile. His servant is healed.

Jesus healed a lot of people, but why may these healings be special? Capernaum is in the territory of Herod Antipas, who is looking for Jesus. I’m not saying this is why Jesus healed these people, but they are important people who may now owe a debt to Jesus and could help make his life much easier. In other words, Jesus has helped key people who make life work for him. Jesus knew what he was going to need to operate his ministry. Why was Peter’s mother-in-law healed? She was healed because Jesus lived in her house.

At Caesarea, we talked about who was going to win the hearts and minds of our children. In RJ families and communities, memorization was used to mold their minds. Which part of the Bible would a Jewish child learn first? RJs would memorize Deuteronomy because it was the constitution of their own people. What a concept! It is 15 codes of law about what makes a Jew a Jew. Jesus quoted Deuteronomy more than any book other than Psalms.

The House of Peter Excavators concluded that one house in the village was venerated (revered, honored, highly regarded) as the house of Peter the fisherman as early as the mid-first century, with two churches having been constructed over it. We know the house is between the synagogue 70

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and the Sea. There are only two houses between the synagogue and the Sea. This site was venerated as the house where Jesus taught. This is very likely true. It is the house where Jesus lived and taught while in Capernaum.

Peter moved into his mother-in-law’s house. Why would he do that? Under the law, if a family did not have any male heirs, the family would be depleted. A family needed to have a male heir to transfer property (that is the Naomi problem in Ruth 1). Property couldn’t be transferred if all of the men in the family died. It could even be a one-year old infant boy, but it had to be a male to transfer property. Therefore, a kinsman redeemer was necessary if a birth-male was not present in the immediate family.

Peter grew up in Bethsaida, but if the lady he was to marry had no male heirs, he would move in with her family rather than the reverse. And all Peter’s children would have her last name and not his. Peter would take her last name in order to carry on the name of the father that was gone.

Next to Peter’s house was a synagogue. The synagogues in Capernaum were insulastyle and built with basalt rock like those at Korazin. The ruins of this building, among the oldest synagogues in the world, were identified by Charles William Wilson. This synagogue appeared to have been built around the 4th or 5th century. The large, ornately carved, white building stones of the synagogue stood out prominently among the smaller, plain blocks of local black basalt used for the towns other residential buildings. The synagogue was built almost entirely of white blocks of calcareous stone brought from distant quarries. See photo on page 276. It is the same size and shape of the original underneath it that was made of basalt rock. Is this the foundation of a synagogue from the first century, perhaps the one mentioned in the Gospels?

The building consists of four parts: the praying hall, the western patio, a southern balustrade, and a small room at the northwest side of the building. The praying hall measured 80.5 feet x 60.5 feet with the southern face looking toward Jerusalem. The internal walls were covered with painted plaster and fine stucco work found during the excavations. At first, it was believed that there had been an upper floor reserved for women, with access by means of an external staircase located in the small room. However, this opinion was not substantiated by later excavations.

The ancient synagogue has two inscriptions – one in Greek and the other in Aramaic – that recognize the benefactors that helped in the construction of the building. There are also carvings of five- and six-pointed stars and of palm trees. During the 4th century into the 5th century, the synagogues were constructed to appear more Roman than Jewish. However, they look more Roman than Jewish. If some 400 years after Jesus the religious centers are starting to look more Greek/Roman than Jewish, whose culture is making the biggest impact?

The six-pointed star that we now call the Star of David did not become such until 1,000 years after the time of Jesus. David did not know it was his star. You can also find this star in mosques because it was not specifically about David. It became the Star of David in 1009 BCE. Beside it, is the five-pointed Star of Solomon. It was his star. You also see the images of birds in these stones. Images were strictly forbidden in a Jewish religious center, but several centuries after Jesus, it became ok to use them – incrementalism. We will see more of this in Tiberias.

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urth century synagogue.

Fou

Whitte stone Oliv ve mill and o olive press.

A mo osaic uncov vered in 199 91 shows an a image off the Woma an and Drag gon motif m mentioned in i the New Testamentt book of Re evelations. It shows a woman ab bout to give e birth tto a child as s a dragon waits to de evour it. The e mosaic is not mentio oned outside of the Go ospels.

T Two possibilities seem m possible: the t mosaic is a Christ ian addition n at some p point when the ssynagogue became a Christian church, or th hat this wass a Jewish motif indica ating the da angers ffacing any Messiah M wh ho might co ome in those dangerou us times of Christian p predominan nce in R Roman-rule ed Palestine e.

T The Rule es of En ngageme ent Durin ng the New w Testament period, if a man spottted a woman he wantted to marryy, how w would he do o it? First off all, if he wanted w to kn now what sshe looked like, he wou uld need to o ask h her brother.. She would d be totally covered in clothes. He e would never go spea ak to her. Iff he sspoke to he er both the man m and woman would lose face e and lose h honor. This was an ho onor a and shame culture. So o he would go to her fa ather and say somethiing like thiss, “Your dau ughter iss so ugly sh he would sc care the wo ool off of my y sheep!” H He would re eply, saying g something g like, ““No, no she e is very bea autiful.” The en he would d negotiate e a price forr her. Her fa ather would d start h high and the e man would start low w and both would w agree e on a price e somewhe ere in the m middle.

First--century Ga alileans had d several wedding w trad ditions that influenced Jesus’ teaching a as well. The e reason wo omen were under the property la w is because when so omething w was ttaken out off the house e of the father, it was in ncredibly va aluable. So o a man ha ad to compe ensate h her father fo or that loss. Otherwise e he would not allow h er to go. Re emember, it took five people tto harvest enough e food d for six people to eat.. In a familyy of five, the e father wo ould be losin ng 20 p percent of his h work forrce. If 1/5 off workers were w lost, so ome sort off compensa ation was n necessary. So there was w a negotiated contrract. The co ontract wou uld establish h a certain period o of time in which w the gro oom would return for his h bride. T The contractt would outtline how much tthe groom will w pay, wh hat the fathe er would pro ovide, and ensures that the bride e will be rea ady. It d did not set an a exact tim me, but esta ablished a general g tim me frame forr the wedding. One of the sstipulations would be the t death of any paren nt. There wo ould be an automatic 18-month e extension to o the weddiing.

Just imagine if one o day you were out in the fieldss working a and your litttle brother ccame rrunning up to you and said, “Therre is a guy here who w wants to ma arry you.” S Since you w would e eventually find f out the details of the transacttion (contra act), you wo ould be eith her crushed or e elated at ho ow much orr little your father f settle ed for.

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Although there were ways for a girl or woman to reject this arrangement, one would never do so without good reason since it would dishonor the family. Chances are you would be a teenager while your suitor would probably be 25 to 30 years old. You go in to a room at home to meet this man. If you are going to agree to marry him, you will go out of the room and prepare some bread and a cup of wine and bring it back in. You will then serve it to the one you will be serving the rest of your life. He will take the bread and break it. You both will eat from the bread. Taking the cup of wine, the groom will drink from it and then offer it to the woman, symbolically saying that he wants to make a covenant with her and that he would be willing to give his life for her. The woman seals the arrangement by drinking from the same cup of wine. From that moment, she is referred to as one who was “bought with a price,” distinguishing her as an engaged woman.

Although you would not know the exact date of the wedding, you may have an idea, and the closer you got to the wedding the rabbi would need to be available. For first marriages it would not be a weekend wedding, but during the week, most likely on Tuesday, the third day of the week, when God twice said “It was good” (Genesis 1:1 – 2:3). So it is a double good day. Because of that, it was the hardest day to get a 5-star hotel room in Jerusalem.

Wednesday night was reserved for second marriages.

The groom then returned to his father’s house to build new rooms at the family insula.

This would take time. Because he did not know the exact day he would finish this task and return for his bride, there is no set date for the wedding and, therefore, no wedding invitations.

Meanwhile, the bride prepared herself and her bridesmaids for the day of her groom’s return.

Not knowing when the groom would come, wise brides made preparations immediately so they would not be caught unprepared.

When the groom finally finished building the insula addition and gained his father’s approval that the house was ready, he would travel to his bride’s village and blow the shofar.

The bride would hear and know that her wedding day had arrived. The “best man” stood at the door while the bride and groom consummated the marriage. When he heard the groom come to the door, he announced that the couple was married and the seven-day reception began.

John 14: 1–4 Now this is what I want you to remember. In order to communicate his deep love for us, Jesus compared himself to a bridegroom who paid a steep price for his bride and then went to his Father’s house to prepare a place for her. You are engaged. Act like it. Jesus said this: Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

Luke 22: 13–19 They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.

When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

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Jesus made this comparison especially clear during the Last Supper. Taking a cup of wine in his hands, he told his disciples, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” (Luke 22:20). Bread and wine were left behind.

Jesus’ disciples no doubt immediately recognized the imagery of a marriage proposal.

And they were able to picture the depths of Jesus’ love – a love so deep that Jesus made a covenant with them and he was willing to give his life for them.

By using marriage imagery, Jesus effectively said, “I love you as my bride, so I am paying the bride price. I’ll give up my life for you and go to my Father’s house to prepare a place for you. And one day I will return and take you to be with me forever.” So when that trumpet blows you know you have wedding plans.

Now think about the day the love of your life placed that ring on your finger and remember the wine and bread. The bread and the wine are an engagement symbol and a promise that he will one day return.

Writing to the Corinthians, Paul used the bride picture as well: “You are not your own; you were bought at a price.” (1 Cor. 6:19-20). His words reminded Jesus’ believers that they were his brides-to-be, waiting for the day when he would return and take them home.

Our Roles as Jesus’ Bride Although today’s marriage customs differ from those of Jesus’ time, the love of our Bridegroom has not changed. Jesus is preparing a place for his bride in heaven, and he anxiously waits for the day when he can return and bring us home. Sadly, many people do not understand Jesus’ love. They put their hope in cheap love, seeking emotions and physical pleasure as the source of happiness. Or they see love as a tool, using deceit and selfishness to pull them up the ladder of success. Love gets distorted time and again, leaving people wounded and miserable.

As Jesus’ bride, we should demonstrate his love to a hurting world. Jesus encouraged his followers to develop compassion, humility, and mercy. These virtues will serve as our weapons for confronting evil and bringing healing to our world. Fortunately, we are not alone in this effort. As Christians, we are part of the kingdom of God, which Jesus described as a close-knit insula family. In our own communities – families, churches, businesses and friends – we should live the kingdom lifestyle, challenging and encouraging each other along life’s journey. In a culture that prizes individualism and “rights,” the unity and grace of God’s family should stand out. As they watch us, nonbelievers will see Jesus’ deep love and sacrifice come to life.

The Epistles Which epistles are specifically written for Jews? They are Hebrews and James. Are any books specifically written for Gentiles? Yes. 1st and 2nd Peter was written for Gentiles in central Turkey. Colossians was written for Gentiles, while the book Romans is written to a mixed audience. Paul told the Colossians not to let the Jewish believers put them down for not observing the Sabbath because they were Gentiles, not Jews. Paul reiterated that the Collossians did not need to keep these special dates, because God had told the Jews to do it; the Sabbaths and feast dates were for the Jews not the Gentiles There is a tendency to make everyone the same. As far as salvation, that is true. It is the same for a Jew as a Gentile. It is the same for male and female. Our sanctification is separate, but our justification is the same. Churches today try to mix that up and tell the Jew to buy a Christmas tree, eat ham and join Christian celebrations. That will never fly for a Jew. 74

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The early Jews/Christians went to church every day, but Sunday was the day they took collection. That was payday. If the church did not get the money then, they would not get it at all. The idea the church should meet on Sunday and not on Saturday was a fourth century idea designed to slam the Jews. So what day should Christian believers meet? The answer is any day they want.

The Gospels tell 18 different events that took place in Capernaum, but here is one that demonstrates how easy for us 20th century readers it is to misunderstand 1st century behavior if we don’t know the culture. In Mark 4, Jesus had been out all night. He had preached a long set of sermons and he says, “Let’s go to the other side,” The disciples said, “Let’s not,” because they were dedicated RJs and Jesus wanted to go to the Gentile side. Jesus went to the other side, healed a man and came back. On the way, he needed to calm a storm. He had not had a lot of sleep.

When he gets back to Capernaum, there is a man on the beach waiting for him. (Mark 5:21-43). It is Jairus, one of the rulers of the synagogues. He says my daughter is at the point of death, please come and help me. Here we have the tale of two women. One is a young girl dying in a house near the synagogue and the other is an older woman with a bleeding problem. The older woman could not stop her bleeding, which made her perpetually impure.

This is a lady who can’t hug her kids before they go to the synagogue. This is a lady who can’t be with her husband. This is a lady who can’t normally live in her home. She is ritually, perpetually impure. She has tried everything to heal herself. She has been to all the doctors.

Nothing works. She feels hopeless. Then she hears Jesus is in town. So she goes through the crowd, comes up from behind Jesus to touch the tassels on his garment.

Numbers 15:38 instructs about these fringes, or tassels, on the four corners of their garment. “Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribbon of blue.”

A tassel is an old symbol that dates as far back as 1800 BCE. The tassel would be impressed onto a clay tablet and symbolized the ability to pay. It gave purchase authority – an early form of a credit card.

In Samuel 24, Saul went into the cave “cover his feet” which is a euphemism for “using the bathroom” and David cut off the tassel of his garment, his credit card. After Saul left the cave, David felt convicted and called out to Saul to give him back his tassel.

Samuel 24: 2–11 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats. And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet: and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave.And the men of David said unto him, “Behold the day of which the LORD said unto thee, ‘Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee.’ Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily.”

And it came to pass afterward, that David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt. And he said unto his men, “The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD's anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD.” So David stayed his servants with these words, and suffered them not to rise against Saul. But Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way. David also arose afterward, and 75

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went out of the cave, and cried after Saul, saying, “My Lord the king.” And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed himself.

And David said to Saul, “Wherefore hearest thou men's words, saying, ‘Behold, David seeketh thy hurt?’ ”Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the LORD had delivered thee today into mine hand in the cave: and some bade me kill thee: but mine eye spared thee; and I said, ‘I will not put forth mine hand against my lord; for he is the LORD's anointed.’” ”Moreover, my father, see, yea, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand: for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe, and killed thee not, know thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand, and I have not sinned against thee; yet thou huntest my soul to take it.”

Later in Jewish history, the tassels were incorporated into the Jewish prayer shawl, called the tzitzit, which is worn by many Jews today. On each corner of the prayer shawl are long tassels – or tzitzits – knotted five times to remind Jews of the five books of Moses. The four spaces between these knots represent the letters of God’s name, YHWH. And the knots along the prayer shawl edges use exactly 613 knotted strings, representing the 613 laws of the Torah.

Returning to the story of Jesus in Capernaum, as He accompanied Jairus toward the synagogue ruler’s house, the woman with the bleeding problem approached Jesus through the crowd. The tassel of Jesus had a ribbon of blue that Mary gave him. It was not tied on, but looped on. As the woman reached out to touch Jesus’ garment, the tassel came off in her hand. She was shocked to realize “I just took Jesus’ credit card!” Jesus knew that someone had just lifted his wallet. Jesus turns and says, “Who grabbed my tassel?” The disciples told him that with the size of the crowd in the streets, it literally could have been anyone. This showed that the disciples were walking in front of Jesus and that the woman approached Jesus from behind. The woman came forward. She was terrified. She did the same thing as David. She gave the tassel back to Jesus. And Jesus told her that her faith had made her whole.

What does the word faith mean? What is faith in the Bible? In effect, it is God’s glasses. Faith is the ability to see things the way God sees them, not the way you or I would see them it if we did not have His revelation of truth. We would call it a Biblical world view.

Faith is: I put on the world view of the Bible and I see as God sees. God is only worried about two groups of people – those who know him and those who need to know him. The woman’s faith was in touching the symbol of God’s authority, Jesus Christ. By understanding the authority of Jesus, it made her whole.

Ezekiel prophesied that the Messiah would come with healing in his wings. But the Hebrew word for wings could also refer to the tallit (prayer shawl) including the tassels on its corners. . Based on this prophecy, the Jews expected the Messiah to have healing in his tassels. During his ministry, one woman demonstrated her faith in Jesus by seeking healing in his tassels.

And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him: and he was nigh unto the sea. And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet, And besought him greatly, saying, “My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.”

And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him. And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, And had suffered many things of 76

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many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.

For she said, “If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.” And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.

And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, “Who touched my clothes?” And his disciples said unto him, “Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?” And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. And he said unto her, “Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.”

While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said, “Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further?” As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, “Be not afraid, only believe.” And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James. And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly. And when he was come in, he saith unto them, “Why make ye this ado, and weep? The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.”

And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying. And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, “Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.” And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment. And he charged them straightly that no man should know it; and commanded that something should be given her to eat.

The second phase of this story is that Jairus’ daughter was dead when Jesus arrived.

He told them not to worry about it and they laughed at him. He revived her, told them to get her something to eat, and then told them not to tell anyone. Herod Antipas was looking for him and he did not want to cause a scene.

It is the story of two different women, one very young and one much older. Both restored in two different ways. The whole story of the Bible is what God can do without us. It is not that God needs us, but it is that God gives us the privilege of participating in his work. It is a story of collaboration.

The Nof Ginnosaur Boat Situated on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, near the city of Tiberias, is the town of Nof Ginnosaur. In 1986, the water of the lake reached an unusually low point. At that time, an ancient fishing boat was discovered that has been claimed to date from the first century CE. The vessel was eight meters long and was preserved in the mud of the lake. After a difficult unearthing process that had to be completed before the water rose again, the excavated boat was put on display in its modern-day position near the kibbutz Ginnosaur as The Sea of Galilee Boat.

The replica of the boat that we saw is considered to represent the type of boat the disciples used for fishing and in their travels across the sea. It is 26 feet long and seven and 77

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o one-half fee et wide. It is s made of wood, w and the planks a are joined w with mortise e-and-tension cconstruction n.

The boat would have had a small saill and a crew w of five. Fo our crew m members wo ould h have used the t two pairrs of oars while w the oth her person steered. The sail wou uld also havve been u used. The boat b is large e enough to o have held d several pe eople besid des the crew w memberss. A ccushion cou uld be place ed on the small deck at a either end d of the boa at so some eone could ssleep.

The sides of the e boat are low to make e it easier fo or the fishe erman to ca ast their nets over tthe edge an nd then pulll them back k. Waves diid not have e to be high to threaten n the boat.

T Tiberias Tiberrias was es stablished in n 20 CE wh hen Jesus w was in his tteens. It wa as named in n honor o of the famous Roman emperor Tiiberius. It was w an HJ a and Gentile city. Tiberiias (Luke 3:1) has b been venerated in Jud daism since the middle e of the seccond centurry CE and ssince the 16 6th ccentury has s been cons sidered one e of Judaism m's Four Ho oly Cities, a along with JJerusalem, H Hebron and d Safed. In the second d to 10th centuries, Tib berias was tthe largest Jewish cityy in G Galilee and the politica al and religiious hub off the Jews. According to Christian n tradition, JJesus p performed several s mira acles in the e vicinity of – but not in n – Tiberiass, making itt an importa ant p pilgrimage site s for devout Christia ans. For tho ousands of years, Tibe erias has hiistorically b been kknown for itts hot spring gs, believed d to cure sk kin and othe er ailmentss.

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Tiberias was founded in the Judea Province by the Roman-Jewish king Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, who made it the capital of his realm in Galilee. A Jewish majority lived alongside a heterogeneous population. There is a legend that Tiberias was built on the site of the Israelite village of Rakkat or Hamet mentioned in the Book of Joshua (Joshua 19:35). A discussion of Tiberias as Rakkat appears in the Talmud. In The Antiquities of the Jews, the Roman Jewish historian Josephus states that Tiberias was near Emmaus (Greek for hot springs). This location is repeated in The Wars of the Jews.

In the days of Antipas, the more religious (as opposed to Hellenized) Jews refused to settle in Tiberias since the presence of a cemetery rendered the site ritually unclean. Antipas settled many non-Jews from rural Galilee and other parts of his domains in his city in order to populate his new capital, and he built a palace on the acropolis. The prestige of Tiberias was so great that the Sea of Galilee soon came to be named the Sea of Tiberias. However, Jewish zealots continued to call it by its traditional name of Yam Ha-Kinerett.

The city was governed by a council of 600 with a committee of 10 until 44 CE when a Roman Procurator was set over the city after the death of Agrippa I. In 61 CE, Agrippa II annexed the city to his kingdom whose capital was Caesarea Philippi. During the First Jewish–Roman War, Josephus Flavius took control of the city and destroyed Herod's palace but was able to stop the city from being pillaged by his Jewish army. Where most other cities in Israel were razed, Tiberias was spared because its inhabitants remained loyal to Rome after Josephus Flavius had surrendered the city to the Roman emperor Vespasian. It became a mixed city after the fall of Jerusalem. With Judea subdued, the southern Jewish population migrated to Galilee.

Following the expulsion of all Jews from Jerusalem after 135 CE, Tiberias and its neighbor Sepphoris (Zippori) became the major Jewish centers. From the time when Yochanan bar Nafcha settled in Tiberias, the city became the focus of Jewish religious scholarship in the land. The Mishnah along with the Jerusalem Talmud, (the written discussions of generations of rabbis in the Land of Israel – primarily in the academies of Tiberias and Caesarea), was probably compiled in Tiberias by Rabbi Judah ha Nasi in around 200 CE. The 13 synagogues served the spiritual needs of a growing Jewish population.

In 636 CE, Tiberias was the regional capital until Bet She`an took its place following the Rashidun conquest. Tiberias was revitalized in 749 CE after Bet She`an was destroyed in an earthquake.

At an archaeologist’s dig we may think we know and understand what we find, but what is uncovered may only be a small part of a bigger picture that portrays a totally different image. Archaeology is still a “baby” science and we are still learning as we dig. Archaeology is also a humbling science because each year you learn a little more and your story may need to change to reflect new discoveries. For example, we call a large building palatial until we can identify for certain what it was.

The next photograph shows a floor of a second and third century synagogue. This is the synagogue of Severus. There is an older synagogue below this one and an older mosaic under this one, but do you destroy the one on top to get to the one below? Also see photo on page 276. In Hamet Teverya, we found a zodiac mosaic on the floor of the synagogue. This is a worship site, but it was also a worship site here before the synagogue was built on it.

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.

Cultic (worship)) sites are remembered. This wass a cultic sitte because e of the hot springs tthat rose up p from here. Many time es you will find a Crussader churcch that sits o on top of a B Byzantine church c that sits on top of a synagogue, whicch sits on to op of a culticc site. Whe en you cchange the religion you keep the art and the e address. IIn other words, you wo orshiped at the ccorner of Ellm and Main. You change religion ns and you still worshiip at the co orner of Elm m and M Main. Cultic c places are e remembe ered.

Look k at the centerpiece in the mosaic c floor. Wha at you have e in the second to fourrth ccenturies is a person’s s face, with a globe in the hand, a and a Helios (halo) behind the he ead.

T The god of the sun wa as Helios. When W weste ern pilgrims found churches that d displayed a artwork w with the Helios, they sa aid it must be Jesus. This T is how w Jesus got his halo. Saints got ha alos b because the ey were already on the e artwork when w we too ok over.

Chris stianity is made m up of a combinattion of even nts that don n’t make anyy sense to our ffaith. Our tw wo most cellebrated Ch hristian eve ents – Chrisstmas and E Easter – bo oth have pa agan isssues that have nothin ng to do witth our faith.. They were e bonded frrom someth hing else. A At the h heart of ourr faith are many m things s that have nothing to d do with ourr faith.

Why would you have signs s of the zod diac on the floor of a syynagogue? ? There are books tthat did not become pa art of our Bible, but ma ay be part o of the Catho olic Apocryyphal bookss. First a and Second d Maccabee es are not accepted a as s cannon, b but it is of h historical sig gnificance. In sseveral of th hose books s you will fin nd stories re elated to sttars. Some people believe Abraham ttaught astro ology to the e Egyptians. During this period, asstrology an nd astronom my are the ssame tthing becau use they we ere not sure e what was mythology and what w was science e. In church h art, tthe signs off the zodiac c represente ed the lost world. The circular mo osaic on the e floor was a ccalendar of Jewish worship. nter of worsship becausse of its hott springs. The city Tiberrias has been always been a cen ssits atop a fault f line in the deepes st crack in the t earth’s ssurface som me 700 fee et below sea a level.

Israel experriences abo out 15 earth hquakes a year y and a big one about every 5 50 years. O One p plate is mov ving north and a the othe er is moving south and d there are hot springss all around d. In 80

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Biblical times, people believed these were areas where God walked. So they came to get healed. The Gospels contain so many stories of sick people because Jesus set up his base camp next to an area with many hot springs, or “healing” centers. If a church is built next to a hospital, the congregation should plan on many funerals.

There are two groups of people the early church tried to reach and they are illustrated on the floor. By the end of the first century, the gospel had traveled from the Jews to the pigeating pagans. We will call them Christians. So we have Messianic Jews and Gentile Christians. Here’s the problem. They don’t think the same way. Look at the Gospels. Matthew, Mark and Luke were written with a singular perspective. They are called the synoptic (same view) gospels. They were written from a Jewish perspective. Mark was written with the drama of a Greek drama. Matthew was written containing a lot of Jewish imagery. Luke was writing in the style of a legal treatise to possibly a lawyer named Theophilus. John was a pastor. Half of his congregation members were former pig eaters and the other half were Jews, who had become messianic Jews.

Just try to imagine what a church dinner at John’s church would look like. The Jews were against images in their art, but pagans plastered images all over the floors, walls and ceilings. The cultire of the Jew is all about behavior. The Jewish attitude said, “If you want to know God, look at what I do.” Jews wanted action and no pictures. For those from a Greek background, according to Plato, the meaning of life was all about what you said. Greeks wanted words and pictures. These two very different cultures came together in John’s congregation. So John framed his gospel around seven things Jesus said and seven things Jesus did. The book of John is a brilliant gospel that took two different worlds and combined them into one.

From the Greek side, the God “said” side, I Am I am the bread of life, John 6:35 “He meets my need.”

I am the light of the world, John 8:12, “He gives me light to mark the way.”

I am the door of the sheep, John 10:8, 9, “He gives me access and protection.”

I am the good shepherd, John 10:11, “He will give all for me.”

I am the resurrection and life, John 11:25, “I can live forever.”

I am the way, the truth, and the life, John 14:6, “He provides my only access to the Father.”

I am the true vine, John 15:1, “He makes me useful.”

From the Hebrew side, the God “I do” side, he does Water into wine, John 2:1-11, “He can change me.”

Long distance healing, John 4:46-54, “He desires my trust.”

Lame man at Bethesda, John 5:1, “He gives me help when I am helpless.”

Loaves and fishes, John 6:6-13, “His resources are inexhaustible.”

Calm the storm, John 6:16-21, “His power is unlimited.”

Healing the blind at Siloam, John 9:1-7, “He lights the darkness in me” The raising of Lazarus in John 11:1-45, “He makes me alive.”

People don’t know we have what they need. Ministry begins when you offer people something they know they need on the way to offering them something they don’t know they need. Our mission is to step into their world and offer them something they know they need so they have to stumble over Jesus.

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K Kibbu utz Kin nnerett Ceme etery T The Grav ve Site of Rachel th he Poetess A Kib bbutz is a collective c co ommunity. It I is a socia alist island in a capitalist society. A About ttwo percentt of Israelis live in a kib bbutz. Therre are abou ut 260 kibbu utzim in Isra ael, but onlyy 15 a are religious s.

A serene Kibbutz Kinnerett Cemetery includes th he grave of Rachel Ha ameshorere et ((Rachel the e Poetess), a secular shrine s for many m Israeliss. The cem metery offerss a superb view of tthe lake, the e Golan He eights, and majestic Mt. Hermon tto the north h. Among th he other d distinguishe ed denizens s of this gro ound are pio oneer leade ers of the e early Zionistt movemen nt.

R Rachel's gra ave is identtified by the e low stone seat attach hed to it.

The pebbles lefft on her gra ave by visitors (a token of respecct in the Jew wish traditio on) are a tribute to Rachel's re enown and to the roma antic hold sshe has on tthe nationa al imaginatio on.

B Born in Rus ssia in 1890 0, she beca ame a Hebrrew poet of national sta ature to the e Jewish pe eople.

S She died in 1931. Rac chel wrote with w great se ensitivity off the beautyy of this reg gion and, kn nowing tthat her end d was near,, with passion of her frrustrated drream of raissing a familly. Her tombstone iss eloquently devoid off biographic cal informattion; it carries only herr first name e and four lines ffrom one off her poems s: "Spread out o your ha ands, look yyonder: / no othing come es. / each m man h has his Neb bo / in the great g expan nse."

O On the e Sea of Ga alilee One of the thing gs I like to do d when we e have a nicce smooth journey is tto remembe er the sstorms on th he sea. Thiink of Mt. Hermon H to th he north. It is the sourrce of waterr, and also the ssource of wind. w While you are on the Sea, th hink of the w winds that ccan come d down from Mt H Hermon and d can creatte a windsto orm on the Sea. So we e are going g to take a m moment and think a about “Why y trouble happens.� Wh hy do good people havve bad thin ngs happen to them?

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Luke 8:22-25 One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, Jesus fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters. The storm subsided and all was calm. “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”

This story begins with God’s word. Jesus said “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” He did not say, “Let’s get in the boat and if we are lucky we will get to the other side.”

He said, “Let’s go to the other side.” Faith is the action of seeing the world through the eyes of what God has said. It is not the being dead that I am afraid of, but the getting dead. Jesus had been teaching all day. Night had fallen. Why would he want to go to the other side – the Gentile side – in the middle of the night? Jesus was always teaching. Did you notice that as soon as trouble came, the disciples assumed he did not care? We make the same mistakes as Christians. Of course he cares. That is why he put on skin and came down to earth. We assume everything should work smoothly, but we are in the middle of a war. That is why we were given armor, because someone is shooting at us.

The storm on the sea was only the beginning of a Jewish nightmare. They sailed to the other side. Not only were the RJs now in the Gentile region of the Gerasene, a man emerged from the tombs. An RJ wasn’t allowed near blood or anything dead. And it got worse. The man had been cutting himself so he was bleeding. Not only that, he had been bound and shackled because he was possessed. But even these chains could not hold him. The man came and fell down at the feet of Jesus. And Jesus commanded the demons o leave the man. They did, but the demons infested a nearby herd of pigs that ran into the sea and drowned.

Luke 8: They sailed to the region of the Gerasene, which is across the lake from Galilee.When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town.

For a long time, this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house but had lived in the tombs.

When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!”

For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places. Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.

A large herd of pigs was feeding on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission. When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.

When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside. The people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.

Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. Then all the people of the region of the Gerasene asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left.

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The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.

This is what I want you to see. The storm on the Sea had a purpose because the real storm they were going to face was going to be on the land. The storm at sea was just to et their attention. Faith is the ability to believe what God says the situation is and not what it looks like. If they would believe him and trust him, then the size of the storm wouldn’t matter.

What they would see was the truth as God saw it.

Why do bad things happen to good people? Sometimes it is my sin, my fault.

Sometimes it is the sin of someone else. Drunk drivers hit innocent people. We live in a fallen world. But there is a third reason. Sometimes we need to go through a problem to understand the problem so that we can graduate and be in a position to help others. It could be that you need to go through pain because God is preparing you to minister to others and you cannot be useful to God if you do not understand the problem. It might not be about you at all.

The Lesson of the Book of Exodus The circumstances described in Exodus teach how God works. Joseph brought his family to Egypt to protect them. But after the death of Joseph they multiplied into a nation and became slaves. In Exodus 1-3, God raised up Moses. In Exodus 4-6, he sent Moses to seminary in the desert where he got a wife. In Exodus 6-12, ten plagues rained down on Egypt and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was stronger than the gods of Egypt. And in Exodus 12, Israel packed up ‘lock, stock and bagel’ and left. In Exodus 13, 14, and 15, their back was to the Red Sea, and Pharaoh’s army was in hot pursuit. God opened up the sea, they passed through and the sea swallowed the army of the Pharaoh, and they sang while Moses break-danced. Then they headed into the desert in springtime when it was hot and they had no water. And they cried out to the Lord and he led them to a place called Marah, where one teaspoon of that water was like Milk of Magnesia on steroids. It made them go for a week. They wouldn’t die, but surely some of them must have wished they would. What kind of God would lead his people into a desert and bring them to a place like this? God’s perspective was “I have brought you out here to get rid of the Egypt in you.” Part of the journey in Exodus was not just to get Israel out of Egypt, but to get the Egypt out of Israel.

Thank God that we serve a kind of God that gives us and leads us to what we need, not what we want, or ask for.

So, sometimes it is my sin. Sometimes it is your sin. Sometimes I need to graduate from the University of Comfort. Sometimes it’s I have totally misunderstood what I really need, and I’m crying out to God for what I want and not what I need.

I think the single hardest lesson for a believer to learn, is, God is good.

At some point the pain will be so bad that you will ask, “Are you really good?”, because it doesn’t really look that way all the time. One of the things Isaiah 28 says is to sustain by faith the things we learn with our encounter with God. It is my Father’s desire to reduce all our desires to one, and that would be him alone. When we hurt inside, there is a place we can take it. We can take it to someone else and it will help for a while, or we can take it to him and it will help forever. You are designed to be able to release to him. The one thing pain does is to strip away all distractions. Life is very basic when you are in pain.

Why do bad things happen to good people? God wants you to have an encounter with him. God who whispers in my good times shouts in my pain and gives me a chance to 84

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e encounter him. h Here is s what I do know. I kno ow that I se erve a God who knowss what I nee ed, and I know that I serve a God G who knows that I need n him m more than anything elsse. And whe en I ffinally concllude he is enough, e onlly then will I know thatt he is good d.

If the ere was any ything I wou uld like to trransport ba ack to Amerrica, it would be the Sa abbath.

It is sunset on Friday night. n Most of the coun ntry will shu ut down unttil sunset Sa aturday. Wal-Mart iss closed on nly one day y a year in the US. The e story of G Genesis 1:1 to 2:3 is no ot a creation story.

It is the storry of seven days and how h God go ot to the se eventh day a and rested.. The purpo ose of tthe Sabbath h is: It was a tim me to recollect all the e things of the past w week.

It was a symbolic rela ationship between b God G and Isrrael for all generation ns.

It was a ren newal time e to rededic cate onese elf to God. It was a tim me to remember the importance e of the fam mily that G God gave. ***

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Private Teaching of the Disciples Introduction What is a Mashal or a Mashalim? What is a parable? What is a Jesus parable and a rabbi parable?

On Day One, we studied Zippori and Jesus’ home town of Nazareth, where he also started his ministry. On the second day, we looked at the areas of Capernaum and Korazin where most of Jesus’ popular ministry was based. Today is day three, the part of Jesus’ ministry that includes several ‘withdrawal’ periods. Jesus needed to spend more time with the disciples. It became more and more important to prepare for his exit plan – to replace himself.

However, in order to do that, he needed more time with the disciples and the crowds had become a problem.

Now, how can an RJ shake off a crowd? The answer is, go to non-kosher territory. The further away from the kosher deli’s, the less Jews there were. So Jesus took the disciples into the areas of the Golan, southern Lebanon.

During day three, we concentrated on the book of Matthew, chapters 14–18, where Jesus prepared his disciples for the final exam – “Who do they say I am, and who do you say I am?”

Baptism There is a big difference between the Judaism of the Old Testament and the Judaism of the New Testament. In the Old Testament, David went into the tabernacle and ate from the showbread. Since he was not struck by lightning or consumed by the earth, God seemed to be agreeable to that.

In Jesus’ time in the New Testament, spitting on the ground on the Sabbath was called “tilling the soil.” The punishment was called Babylon – the oldest recorded legal school on earth. From the Code of Hammurabi forward, the emphasis was law, law and even more law.

Offenders went into captivity into a law school. When they came out, they thought differently.

There are no Hebrew scriptures that say baptism is necessary, but by the time of the New Testament, John is baptizing people. There was a period of time when God withdrew between Malachi and Matthew. So how did baptism become popular? Baptism appeared in Judaism and then became part of the Great Commission. It came from where all mysterious things emerge – Ezekiel 35, 36, and 37.

Of Ezekiel’s 48 chapters, no less than 24 chapters are dedicated to the story of a ‘30year-old priest’. A priest began ministering at the age of 30. When the writers say Jesus was about 30 years old, they are saying that it is time for him to begin his ministry. The first three chapters are the calling of Ezekiel. Later, in chapter 24, his wife died and he was told not to mourn. When God spiritually transported him to the temple and he found that it is dirty, God said he was going to destroy the temple. So Ezekiel endured the death of his wife and the prophecy of his temple’s destruction of his temple on the same day.

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Pa astor Greg Hames baptizing g Amanda Bro own in the Sea a of Galilee

From m chapters 25–48, 2 God d encouraged, but also o warned, tthat when h he gave the em b back their te emple and land, they would w have e to do thing gs His way so that the ey wouldn’t lose it a again. In Ez zekiel chapter 33, he said: s Agaiin the word of the LOR RD came un nto me, sayying, Son off man, spea ak to the ch hildren o of thy peoplle, and say y unto them,, ‘When I brring the sw word upon a land, if the e people of the lland take a man of the eir coasts, and a set him for their wa atchman: Iff when he sseeth the sw word ccome upon the land, he h blow the trumpet, an nd warn the e people; T Then whoso oever heare eth the ssound of the e trumpet, and a taketh not warning g; if the sw word come, a and take hiim away, hiis b blood shall be upon his s own head d. h the so ound of the trumpet, and took nott warning; h his blood sh hall be upon n him.

He heard B But he that taketh warn rning shall deliver d his soul. s But if tthe watchm man see the e sword com me, and b blow not the e trumpet, and a the peo ople be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person ffrom among g them, he is taken aw way in his in niquity; but h his blood w will I require e at the w watchman's s hand. So thou, O son n of man, I have set th hee a watch hman unto the house o of IIsrael; there efore thou shalt s hear th he word at my mouth, and warn tthem from m me.”

What God was saying was s that there would be a time when n He would d send Ezekkiel b back to the land and God G would send s someo one that wo ould speak on his behalf. If the w warming ssounded an nd they didn n’t listen, they would die. So when God sentt a watchma an, he would be o one of his prophets. p In ch hapter 34, God G warned d the people e about the e “shepherd ds” of Israell. He said th hat the p people in th he temple did not spea ak for Him, that t they diid not care for His she eep. He told d them tto listen to his h prophetic spokesm man, not the e shepherdss because tthey were letting them m go the 87

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wrong way. God had a temple, but the people in the temple did not see him when he came.

They had to listen to the prophets.

For thus saith the Lord GOD; “Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.

I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.

I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down”, saith the Lord GOD. “I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment. And as for you, O my flock,” thus saith the Lord GOD; “Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats. Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? And to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet? And as for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet; and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet.”

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD unto them; “Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle. Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad; therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle.

And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it. And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people and I will be your God.” Ezekiel 37 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord GOD, You know.”

Again He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.’ Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life.

I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the LORD.’” 88

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God promised captivity and restoration. They had lost their temple and their land, but God said they will get it back. He was going to gather them into the land so they could listen to his prophetic voice. In chapters 35, 36, and 37, He described the process. Baptism came from these chapters. He talked about how he will renew the land (dry bones in chapter 37). I’m going to rebirth my people, but still you will not listen to me.

What is the substance of this new covenant? A new heart will I give you and a new spirit I will put within you: and I will take away your stony heart and I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statues, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.

When did this new covenant occur? This new covenant had not yet happened. The primary covenant was not promised to Gentile people. It was a covenant between God and the Jews. The new covenant also included the land contract of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as well as a spiritual change in the people.

We are in that period of time that Paul writes about in Romans, opening the eyes of the Gentiles who can then provoke the Jew to jealousy. We are in that period of time of gathering them back to the land, but not the spiritual change. It will happen in the last days. In effect, he was saying, “I will gather you back, and, oh, by the way, I will also include the Gentiles.”

Paul Writes in Romans 11 I say then, ‘Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.

Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness? For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.

Ezekiel 36:24 For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.

So the message was, listen to the prophetic word and not the word from the temple and get wet. So the rabbis began to teach ritual purification with water. In Matthew chapter 11, only one person came forward who was not a priest – John the Baptizer. Listen to the one who came from outside of the system, and his prophetic voice. He will draw you to the water and will clean you and restore you and your nation. So people were coming to John thinking he would overthrow the Roman government and the land would be restored to Israel. Repent, the kingdom of God is near. One problem the people had was trying to understand the meaning of the word “kingdom”. They thought it meant getting rid of the pig-eating, pastaloving Romans, when John and Jesus were talking spiritually.

And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, “What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet.

You went out to see a prophet, one that was not part of the priesthood. I will send a watchman before you.

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For this is he, of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.’ Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Jesus was endorsing John’s ministry, meaning he will die before the kingdom is established.

The New Covenant The new covenant in Isaiah 39 and Jeremiah 31 repeats five times to the household of Israel, to the household of Judah, to the sons of Jacob, to the household of Israel. But wait, doesn’t the new covenant begin when you believe in Jesus? That is a piece of it, but it is not the total story. The covenant is a land contract to renew his agreement with the Jewish people to be their God and renew their heart. But Paul said in 2nd Corinthians, I am a minister of the new covenant.

But how does that happen? What he was saying is this, “As a Gentile I have the spirit of God within me and he has written the law on my heart, and that is a foreshadowing of the coming new covenant. But the coming new covenant is to the household of Israel and household of Judah that I will gather my people and then I will do the same thing for them.”

The new covenant does not stop with the church. It starts with the church to show where the covenant is really going. Which is, I had an old covenant with my people, and I will have a new one, and along the way I will include a bunch of you pig-eating Gentiles. I will show what the new covenant looks like in a life before it happens. We are given a glimpse of that new covenant by the life we live through Jesus. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. We share a family relationship. Over time, this covenant causes the Jews to look at the Gentiles and wonder how they can have a relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

One day, when God calls us to a wedding feast, Israel will see what it is like to have a spiritual relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And God will offer it back to the Jewish people, His people. We are just a forerunner.

The new covenant is technically God’s agreement to restore the Jewish people to a complete son-ship and write the law in their hearts. The role of the Gentile is to deliver a preview of what that will look like before it happens. That is the new covenant. So the baptism is an expression of that picture – Jesus changed my life.

Tel Dan The original area for the tribe of Dan was southwest Israel, near the coast. Unable to hold the area, the tribe moved northward. Tel Dan marks the northern frontier of the kingdom of Israel. Originally fortified with walls and gates by the early Canaanites in about 1800 BC, Dan was conquered by the Israelites around 1150 BC (Judges 18). Israel reinforced the city by adding additional walls and ramparts.

In the northern Golan, near the Jordan River, there is an attractive nature park of which ancient Tel Dan is the literal highpoint. This fertile station on the ancient caravan route from Egypt to Syria is fed by one of the tributaries of the Jordan – the Dan Spring – which flows down from Mount Hermon. The spring pours out some 250 million cubic meters of water per year.

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The city of Dan was named so when the Israelite e tribe of D Dan conquered it: “The ey ccalled the name n of the e city Dan after the nam me of Dan ttheir father”” (Judges 18:29).

The city until the en had bee en called “Leshem” or “Laish”, and under this name it iss also m mentioned in i ancient Egyptian E tex xts from the e 19th centtury BCE on nwards and d also in M Mesopotam mian texts. In ancient times, Laish h was alread dy a mightyy city with b bulwarks. It was d during this time t that the patriarch Abraham and a his men pursued tthe northerrn kings who had ccaptured his s nephew Lot L as far as s Dan (Gen nesis 14:14 4).

Altho ough the tribe of Dan settled s the tel t in the 11 1th century BCE, they did not lea ave any a archeologic cal remains. The city became b prominent onlyy after the d death of Kin ng Solomon n (928 B BCE) when Israel was divided intto two kingd doms. The king of nortthern Israel, Jeroboam m, who w wanted to avoid a his cittizens’ pilgrimages to the t Temple e in Jerusale em, erected d two golde en ccalves for his h people to o worship. He said the ey were the eir new godss and put o one statue in BeitE El and anotther in Dan..

I Kings 12:28-9 Whe ereupon the e king took counsel, c an nd made tw wo calves off gold, and said unto th hem, “It is too much h for you to go up to Je erusalem: behold b thy g gods, O Isra ael, which b brought the ee up o out of the la and of Egyp pt”. And he set the one e in Bethel, and the oth her put he iin Dan. Thes se two cities s marked th he northern n and southern borderss of his king gdom. How w great tto have bee en the archa aeologist who w discove ered the alta ar of the go olden calf?

In an nother deve elopment, Jeroboam also added a another forttification rin ng outside tthe old ccity wall, wh hich include ed a monum mental gate e. This gate e was destro oyed during g the Syrian n invasion inittiated by the Judean King K Asa at the turn off the 9th century BCE (I Kings 15 5:20).

The book of Samuel was originally o on ne book, an nd it was brroken into th hree biogra aphies.

1 Samuel, 1-8 1 is aboutt Samuel. Chapters C 9– –15 are abo out the rise and the de estructive nature o of Saul. Fro om 1 Samue el 16–23, all a of 2 Samuel is the b biography a and autobiography of D David – h he writes so ome and others write about a him. 1 King, cha apters 1–11 1 are about the rise an nd belly and fflop of Solomon. Chap pter 12 is the division of o the kingd dom, 10 trib bes going to o the north a ttwo tribes to o the south. The northern kingdom extended d from the ttribe of Dan n south to B Bethel, just north off Jerusalem m.

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The next Israelite kings, Omri and his son Ahab, rebuilt the battered city and resurrected the gate and a huge podium at the north end of the tel. However, although Dan is not mentioned in any account of the Assyrian victory, life in Dan came to a halt with the Assyrian invasion (732 BCE). The northern kingdom fell to the Assyrians in BC 722, but it was a victim of invasion for a decade before its capital fell in 722 BC. It is probable that Dan’s inhabitants were banished together with the other northern Israelites (II Kings 15:29).

Jeroboam had retired to Egypt, but came out of retirement to become king of Israel. God gave Jeroboam the northern kingdom, but because of his loyalty to David kept the southern kingdom separate.

1 Kings12:22-24 But the word of God came unto Shemaiah the man of God, saying, ”Speak unto Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the remnant of the people, saying,” Thus saith the LORD, “Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel: return every man to his house; for this thing is from me.”

They hearkened therefore to the word of the LORD, and returned to depart, according to the word of the LORD.

The Golden Calf God gave Jeroboam a kingdom, blessed him, and asked him to follow Him. In chapter 12, he began to be afraid, however, and his fear rose. The minute he started to hang on to what God gave him, it was as if he earned it. Then fear took over. And he built a shrine with a golden calf on the high place, here and in Bethel.

The archaeologists who found the site were in a quandary about keeping such a historical location, but were also sensitive to the religious nature of such a site. Imagine finding the site that caused your people to defect and that would later result in them being conquered by the Assyrians. Although they were academics, they were also sensitive to their heritage. When they found the pieces of stone to rebuild the altar, they crushed the stones into small pieces and scattered them in the forest. To mark the size and place of the altar, they erected a metal frame.

The cult area was divided into a high and a low place. The low place was a simple room with two doors on both sides and a 9th – 8th century BCE horned altar in the middle.

This kind of square altar, made of a single block of stone with horns in all four corners, was also found in other Israelite sites. On top of it there were burn and soot marks from the incense that sanctified the animal offerings.

From about the 4th century BCE, life returned to the city. It remained inhabited until the 4th century BCE, but nothing much is known about Dan from this period. The Jewish historian Josephus Flavius mentioned Dan in his accounts and confirmed it was the site of Jeroboam’s golden calf (The Jewish War, 4:3).

Biblical people did not destroy villages they conquered. They would fill the village with dirt and built on top of it.

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T The Book k of Leviticus – Altars and Sacrifice es When standing on a site lik ke this, it may m not be e evident how w importantt altars are to o one’s spiritu ual life. Lev viticus is the e book of sa acrifices. M Many didn’t w want to do them, but they rrepresented d principles in their live es.

S Sacrifice 1 – Burnt Offering g L Leviticus 1 It wa as about sm mell. God sm melled it and it was sw weet to his n nose. Everyything got b burned ccompletely. There was s nothing left but ash and a smoke.. How doess this apply to your life? ?

R Romans 12 2:1, “I besee ech you the erefore, brethren, by th he mercies of God, tha at ye presen nt your b bodies as a living sacrrifice, holy, acceptable e unto God, which is yo our reasona able service e”.

The first f three chapters c of the book of Romans a are designe ed around tthis point. Itt does n not matter who w we are e; we live un nder sin. Go od would no ot leave uss there in ch hapters four and ffive, so he sent s Jesus to justify us s and to ma ake us rightteous. But w we are not righteous in cchapter six, we are dead to sin. We W are not under the la aw in chaptter seven, b but we have e the sspirit in chapter eight. What W God will w do with Israel is co overed in chapters nin ne through 11.

G God had be een faithful in the past in chapter nine, he wiill be faithfu ul in the pre esent in cha apter 1 10, while all of Israel will w be saved d in the futu ure – chaptter 11. pare yourself like a livin ng sacrifice e, in chapter 12. Before e killing or Therrefore, prep ssacrificing an a animal, put p them in a pen and inspected them. Paull tells us to go in for inspection. After all Go od inspected you and took t the old d person ou ut of your liffe to complletely a and totally destroy d him m, so that yo ou may beg gin the journ ney of whatt pleases your God (R Romans 1 12:2). A burrnt offering is all for Go od and non ne for me.

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Sacrifice 2 – Grain Offering Leviticus 2 If it is the time of the year that you sow, give me your seeds. If it is the time of the year you have flowers, give me flowers. If it is the time of the year you have barley, give me the head of the barley. In other words, God wants what you have now.

Sacrifice 3 – Peace Offering Leviticus 3 Shalom is translated as peace, but it actually means when everything is in balance. It is giving back a portion to God for everything he has done for me. Every week we go to church and tithe. But in giving him that portion, we are also reminded that everything else also belongs to him.

Sacrifice 4 – Sin Offering Leviticus 4 It means I missed the mark. I did not hit what I was aiming at. The sin offering is an unintentional sin.

Sacrifice 5 – Trespass Offering Leviticus 5 This is linked to the sin offering – when you use something that God says is holy in an unholy manner. Leviticus 1–8 tells you about the sacrifices. Chapters nine and 10 tell you stories about the priest. And chapters 11 to the end of the book tell you when to use them. If you read only the first half of the book, you will know where to stand when you are killing the animal, but you do not know what it is for. Using something holy for an unholy purpose is covered in chapters 18 and 19 through the subject of sex. God says using your body sexually outside of its purpose is not the same as stealing. Therefore this offering is different. Did you also notice that in the other offering you could use a bird or a sheep or some other animal, but in this instance it needs to be a ram or a bull? In this offering you sacrifice your ram or bull – your stud animal. In other words, you are giving up a piece of your future.

When you violate your body sexually, you give up part of your future. You do not settle issues with God simply by saying, “Gee, I’m sorry.” Even though you are forgiven, the penalty of your action follows you. How do I know that is still true in the New Testament?

1 Corinthians 6:18-20, Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

There is something bigger about misusing your body that way. It is the misuse of blood that God is concerned about, and in the Bible semen is considered blood. So this offering says I not only owe a sin offering, but I also owe him a piece of my future.

The Ordination of a Priest There is actually a sixth offering in Leviticus chapter 8, but this offering is for the ordination of priest. In ordaining Aaron, Moses killed a ram. Then he killed a second ram.

Then took take the blood and put it on the right ear lobe, right thumb, and the right big toe.

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Why? Because life is in the blood. He is saying other people can listen to that, but you can’t.

You are my priest. Be careful little ears what you hear. I am marking your ears. You are my priest. The thumb. Other people can make that. You can’t. You are my priest. The big toe?

Other people can go there. You can’t. You are my priest. If you are part of the royal priesthood, other people can hear things; other people can do that; other people can go there.

You can’t. You belong to me.

Learning from Leviticus Leviticus is very relevant today. By knowing what your Father cares about, you can understand how your Father is asking you to live. He cares that I have somewhere in my life for that burnt offering. He cares that I give him whatever I have when I have it. He cares that when I receive a gift, I give back a portion to remember it is all his. He cares that when I unintentionally do something wrong, I become more sensitive to him. He cares that when I use something holy in an unholy way, it is not enough to apologize. And if I am to become a priest, I will hear what he wants me to hear, do what he wants me to do, go where he wants me to go, and I will add, seeing what he wants me to see.

In the Bible, thousands of animals are sacrificed. The Hebrew term “elaph” is always translated into English as “one thousand”, but the word can also mean clans, vans, tribes, bands, families, or thousands. So a translator must look at the context and decide how the word will be translated. In Exodus, a census is taken. They have 602 elaphim (602,000 men) who can string a bow. If each man has a wife and a couple of children, that suggests a population of two or three million people. However, Randy has visited that part of the desert and says there is no way that many people will fit into the space. If the tabernacle is set up the way it should be, we are looking at an area half the size of Rhode Island and that is if all the people are standing up and there are no tents. The problem is that if the word “elaph” is translated as “band” and a band is 20 people, the number of the people at the Exodus is more likely 50,000. Is there a place in the Bible where that word would have been translated as less than 1,000? In Joshua 2–6, they march and the walls of Jericho fall. Then they march up into Ai. They have “3,000” men and 56 are killed. Why would you retreat if only 56 of your 3,000 men were killed? However, if 56 of your 60 men are killed, you probably would turn around.

The numbers referenced in the Bible do not equal what is possible in the actual location. When it comes to interpreting the numbers in the Bible, you have three problems.

One is the translation of the word “thousand.” The base system changed twice; and the English version is already different to the 1611 version because it has already been revised twice. At the end of the day, be careful how you interpret what you read. The Bible is not different, but the word we read may be different. The entire exodus is from Washington to New York City.

It is small so when we get to those places in the Bible where “thousands” of animals were killed, it may actually have only been hundreds. In all honesty, we do not know how to translate the Bible with 100 percent accuracy. The Bible did not fail, rather we translated a word and decided what it meant. Don’t walk away and think you cannot trust the Bible. You can. But you also need to be aware of the places where there is some ambiguity. The word “thousand” is one such example. We just don’t know how to translate that word in its proper meaning.

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Living in Dan Some of the houses in Dan actually had running water. We found a house and in the floor of the house was a rock that covered an underground spring. This actually helped to keep the house cool in the summer and made it easy to access the water. Wells are kept capped and in darkness to prevent bacteria from growing in the water. Water will stay fresh if it is moving and kept in darkness. Drinking water was always mixed with a small amount of wine to kill any contaminants. The ratio was one part wine to three or four parts water. The amount of alcohol found in Biblical wine was slightly more than the apple juice you drink today.

Wine of that day was used for many things, including pain relief. We can go to a bathroom cabinet and grab an aspirin for a sore tooth. The only thing they had was wine.

There is a reason why they did what they did. They did not have all of our modern conveniences.

This is what I want you to remember about a gate in the Bible. There is judgment seat here. Judges sit at gates to the city. You had to go through many gates to get into a city.

Ruth 4 Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by; unto whom he said, “Ho, such a one! Turn aside, sit down here.”

And he turned aside, and sat down. And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, “Sit ye down here.” And they sat down.

And he said unto the kinsman, “Naomi, that is come again out of the country of Moab, selleth a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech's: And I thought to advertise thee, saying, Buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it: but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know: for there is none to redeem it beside thee; and I am after thee.” And he said, “I will redeem it.”

Then said Boaz, “What day thou buys the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.” And the kinsman said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem it.”

Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbor: and this was a testimony in Israel. Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, “Buy it for thee.” So he drew off his shoe.

And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, “Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, of the hand of Naomi. Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day.”

The kinsman redeemer sat in the gate to rise up the name of Elimelech, and this was done by the swapping of a sandal – stepping out of your shoe and into another shoe. Boaz took off his sandal and put it on Elimelech. In other words to raise up the name of Elimelech he had to step off of his name and step into the name of Elimelech’s, so that his children would have her father’s last name. You are redeeming another family’s line, but to do so you trade your assets and liabilities for their assets and liabilities.

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In the e photograp ph above, the t two step ps next to tthe wall is w where a jud dge would ssit. The ccircular item ms on the co orners are not “spittoo ons” but polle holders ffor a tent that would co over tthe judge. These T were e actual roads in the tim me of Abrah ham. They were smoo other then, too.

W When the archaeologis a sts clean ev verything, they t wash a away the ha ardened mu ud between n the sstones. It was w actually easier to walk w the roa ad some 4,0 000 years a ago than no ow.

2 Samuel 19 1 Then n the king arose, a and sat s in the ga ate. In Provverbs 31, H Her husband d is known in the g gates, when n he sitteth among the e elders of the t land.

Imag gine it this way. w Outsid de the city th here is a sttrip mall wh here there w would be a raised a area that wo ould show the t agreem ments of the e city. If you u came to th he gates off the city an nd were n not deemed d worthy to enter, they y would just keep you o out. Judgess sit in the cchambers to the g gates of the e city. “Lift up u your hea ad oh yea gates.” g But g gates don’tt have head ds, right? O Oh yes tthey do. It’s s the people e in the gate es – the jud dges sitting at the entrrance.

The agreements of the city y were for contracts c with another city. Each city would have a ccopy of the agreementt. Why am I telling you u this? Whe en Moses ca ame down off the mou untain, h he did some ething that cost him en ntrance into o the Promiised Land. What was iit? He strucck the rrock in ange er and he broke b the ta ablets. He broke b God’ss agreemen nt. He had b both agreem ments in his hands s and he brroke both off them. It was w ok if he broke his o own agreem ment in ang ger, but n not God’s. Remember R it is not 1-5 5 and 6-10,, but 1-10 a and 1-10. H He broke bo oth of them.

Peop ple saw a te erritory as under u a god d. So when you made an agreem ment with an nother tterritory it was w also witth their god. High place es were se et up outside e the city w which said o our god iss equal to your y god. The T problem m was comp promise; alllowing othe er gods to b be recognizzed as e equal to Go od.

Jerem miah proph hesied in ch hapter 4 and d 8 that Jud dah would kknow their destruction n was n near when the t armies passed by the gates of o Dan.

T The Gate es of Da an This gate is the only Bronz ze Age arch hed gate th at survived d complete in the entire e M Middle Eastt. It is the only full stan nding gate since s the tim me of Abra aham. It is ccontempora ary with 97

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tthe domestiication of th he camel an nd dated to o the 18th ce entury BCE E. When it w was dug ou ut it rreached alm most to its original o heig ght of 20 feet. Built usiing sun-drie ed mud briccks once co overed w with white plaster, p it co ontained thrree arches inside. Sto one steps le ead to the first gate.

The middle gate e was covered by a sq quare buildiing while th he third gate e led out to a flight o of steps dow wn into a sttreet. The gatehouse g as a a whole was part of a huge ea arthen ramp part w with a stone e base that enclosed the city. It was w later co overed with earth, whe ereby it wass p preserved. It is estimated that it to ook approx ximately 1,0 000 laborerss three yea ars to shove el the e earth onto the t 1.7-kilom meter ramp part.

The second gattehouse, wh hich dates to t the Israe elite period (9th – 8th ccentury BCE) and w was built by y King Ahab b, lies more e to the wes st. The entrrance slope e led from e east to westt to a la arge square gate. The e behind-lying building g was multi--gated, with h seven tow wers and ma any d different roo oms. After a courtyard there is an nother gate to a covere ed rectangu ular building g, w which is com mprised of four rooms s. From here e, a wide sttreet leads up to the ccity, which iss p protected on its southe ern side by a high city wall. In con ntrast to the e Canaanite e gatehousse, the Israelite gatte was not built b on top p of the rampart, but ha alfway dow wn.

ng Israelite times, the gatehouse was the ce enter of life.. II Samuel 19:9 speakks of Durin tthe gate as a place wh here the kin ng sat: “The en the king arose, and d sat in the g gate and th hey told a all the peop ple, saying behold, b the e king doth sit s in the ga ate. And alll the people e came befo ore the kking.” e northwest of the cou urtyard, archeologists ffound a pla atform – pro obably for a throne In the o or a statue. At its corne ers were be eautifully ca arved stone e bases in tthe shape o of petals tha at ssupported the pillars of a canopy.. The style of these ba ases comess from Syria an example es.

Acco ording to Ge enesis 23:17-19, Deutteronomy 20:19 and R Ruth 4:1-2, tthe city elde ers h held sway in n the gateh house. They y probably sat s on the sstone bencch next to th he throne platform w with their ba acks resting g against th he wall.

The elders listened to plea as that were e brought to o their atten ntion (Amoss 5:15, Zachariah 8 8:16). In this pre-emaill era, the ga ate was als so the place e to indulge e in gossip ((Psalms 69 9:13) a and news about a the big world outtside.

From m II Kings 23:8 we believe that the e gate acte ed as a cult place. Thiss correspon nds to a another disc covery in th he square of o five flat cultic stoness or masseb bot, which h had an alta ar-like lo ong table in n front of th hem. King Josiah, who o reformed rreligious prractice in Ju udah, conde emned 98

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the ‘high places at the gates,’ and smattered them to pieces. Northern Israelite kings were less strict, however. King Omri and his son Ahab famously dabbled in heathen, especially Phoenician, imported gods.

At the other end of the street there is an inner gate, which was built at a later date. It is located in the core of the Canaanite rampart. The street pavement leading to the newer gate had been polished by thousands of feet.

In the square of the Israelite gatehouse an inscription belonging to a large basalt slab was found in 1993, making international headlines. It is unique for several reasons: First, because it is very old, dating to the 9th century BCE, and second, because it’s the very first time that the house of David is mentioned in a text outside of the Bible.

Tel Dan is also notorious for many evidences of the pagan “high places” mentioned throughout the biblical text.

So you may be wondering why, if Israel conquered the Canaanite, is the gate still standing? Biblical people did not destroy what was before them. When they conquered an area, they simply filled it in with dirt and built on top of it. That is why a “tel” can have many civilizations under it. The further you dig, the older the civilization. When you dig to ground level you have reached the oldest group of people that lived there. Access to roads and water determined where a city would be located.

Banias (Caesarea Philippi) Caesarea Philippi stood only 25 miles from the religious communities of Galilee. Banias (Paneas) or Caesarea-Philippi, was an impressive Greco-Roman city located near a flowing spring – one of the sources of the Jordan River on the foothills of the Hermon mountain. But the city’s religious practices were vastly different from those of the nearby Jewish towns.

In Old Testament times, the northeastern area of Israel became a center for Baal worship. In the nearby city of Dan, Israelite King Jeroboam built the high place that angered God and eventually led the Israelites to worship false gods. Eventually, worship of Baal was replaced with worship of Greek fertility gods.

Caesarea Philippi, which stood in a lush area near the foot of Mount Hermon, became the religious center for worship of the Greek god Pan. The Greeks named the city Panias in his honor.

When the Romans conquered the territory years later, Herod Philip rebuilt the city and named it after himself. But Caesarea Philippi continued to focus on worship of Greek gods. In the cliff that stood above the city, local people built shrines and temples to Pan. Interestingly, Jesus chose to deliver a kind of “graduation speech” to his disciples in the vicinity of Caesarea Philippi. In that pagan setting, he encouraged his disciples to build a church that would overcome the worst evils.

Mark chapter 7 and 8 mirror Matthew 15 and Matthew 16. These stories set up the final exam. So both Matthew and Mark tell the story of Jesus’ withdrawal from the Sea.

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Mark 7 The Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered around Him when they had come from Jerusalem, and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with impure hands, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the traditions of the elders) and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and copper pots.)

The discussion was not about the food; it was about dirt on the hands. In Mark’s Gospel he says, “by this he made all foods clean”, meaning the hands could be washed any way you want, not that he did away with the kosher food. He is not changing the law. As a matter of fact, he said he was not coming to change the law. Jesus has no compassion for legalists. When Paul writes in 1 Corinthian 8-10 about meat sacrificed to idols, he was extremely careful about your actions so that you would never cause another believer to stumble. However, there is a difference between a weak believer and a legalist. A weak believer is someone who if they see you doing something will stumble in their faith. Our actions could hinder someone with less faith and cause them to fall away from the church. A legalist isn’t going to stumble; they want to control you. Paul never changed his practice for a legalist – only for a weaker brother. A legalist in the Bible is someone who uses doctrine/theology to control other people. Jesus has no compassion for a legalist who wants to control someone else.

Now there is a second story, where Jesus was trying to travel unnoticed.

Matthew 15 Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon. And a Canaanite (Syrophenician by race) woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.”

But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.” But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and began to bow down before Him saying, “Lord, help me!” And He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

Ouch! I came for the Jews. I did not come for you. Now that does not sound like the gentle Jesus of the movie. You are a Syrophenician – a gentile. I came for the lost sheep of Israel, and I’m not here for you. Does that make you feel uncomfortable? The situation is resolved when the woman says, “Wait a minute. I know I‘m the dog. But even the dogs get to eat the crumbs.” Because she understands what Jesus is there for and that she is simply looking for an “overflow blessing”, Jesus agrees to help.

But she said, “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once.

Jesus did not have any compassion on the legalist, but he did have compassion for the Gentile woman once she understood his purpose.

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The Feeding of the 4,000 There is a third story in Matthew 15, verse 32, where they are on a mountainside and Jesus is healing many. They were hungry and Jesus saw them as sheep and had compassion for them, yet they were only 15 minutes from a gentile city. This was an RJ versus Gentile situation. The RJ could not go to a Gentile (G) area and buy bread.

And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, “I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.”

The disciples *said to Him, “Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?” And Jesus *said to them, “How many loaves do you have?”

And they said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” And He directed the people to sit down on the ground; 36 and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.

And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large baskets full. And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.

Because of the shade offered by its big leaf (the original bikini), the Talmud says that the best place to study the law is underneath a fig tree. In the change of the seasons, there is a sweet smell under the leaves. All the fichus family produces the fruit directly on the branch.

There are many uses for the fruit, but if you pinch open the bottom of the fig, a small insect will burrow in, producing the sweetness of the Fig Newton. Who was the fig pincher who, in the off season, was also a prophet? Amos was a shepherd and a part-time fig pincher from Tekoa.

The Three Stories that Illustrate Jesus’ Teachings We have covered three stories that are the background for Jesus coming to the region of Caesarea Philippi.

Story 1 – Down in the kosher region, the Pharisees were seeking him to argue if the disciples were washing their hands correctly. Jesus tells them that they do not understand, that it’s not what’s on the outside that is a problem, but what it is inside. Jesus has no compassion for the legalist, so he leaves.

Story 2 – Jesus is followed by people who want to argue, but he is trying to prepare the disciples for what is to come. He goes over to the Gentile side – to Tyre and Sidon – and asks that they don’t tell anybody that he is there. But because he was Jesus he couldn’t hide (Mark 7:24). Although the woman implored Jesus to help her demoniac child, it is not until she understands that, as a Gentile, she is not in the primary place of God’s blessing, that the Lord heals her daughter.

Story 3 – Jesus then returns to the northern area of the Sea of Galilee where many of the people that have been following him for three days seek healings. Jesus sees that they are hungry but have no place to go. On the northern Sea of Galilee, Jesus feeds a large group of people twice. First he feeds 5,000, and now 4,000. Although they are only 15–20-minute walk from a major Gentile city, they cannot buy bread there because it is not a kosher area.

So Jesus, seeing they are like sheep, has compassion on them.

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Thes se three sto ories are a great g frame ework for what Jesus is trying to tteach the d disciples. He H says, “Yo ou guys hav ve been sucking up to o the religious leader a and I have n no ttolerance fo or them. I want w you to know whom m I have co ome for and d why.” So JJesus takess them tto the area of Caesare ea Philippi where w there e was a cityy nestled ag gainst the ro ocks. The rrocks a acted like a natural forrtification.

Caes sarea Philip ppi’s locatio on was espe ecially uniq que because e it stood a at the base of a ccliff where spring s wate er flowed. At A one time, the water rran directlyy from the m mouth of a ccave sset in the bo ottom of the e cliff on the e other side e of a river that ran thrrough the ccity. This ma ajor rregional cap pital city wa as a very highly develo oped area b

by Herod P Philip.

When Jesus bro ought his disciples to the t area, th hey must ha ave been sh hocked. To o RJs, C Caesarea Philippi P was s like a red-light districtt in their wo orld. They w would have avoided an ny ccontact with h the despic cable acts committed c there. t Jesu us does nott enter the G Gentile city, but he ccomes to th he region off the city. It was a city of people e eagerly kno ocking on th he doors of hell.

In Mark 8, Jesus J starts s to questio on the discip ples on the way to the e city.

And Jesus went out, and his h disciples s, into the to owns of Ca aesarea Philippi: and b by the w way he ask ked his disciiples, sayin ng unto them m, “Who do o men say tthat I am?” And they a answered, “John “ the Baptist; B but some say, Elias; and others, one e of the pro ophets.” And d he ssaith unto th hem, “But who w say ye that I am?”” And Peterr answereth h and saith unto him, ““Thou a art the Chris st.” And he charged th hem that the ey should ttell no man of him.

And he began to t teach the em, that the e Son of ma an must sufffer many th hings, and b be rrejected of the t elders, and of the chief priestts, and scrib bes, and be e killed, and d after three days rrise again. hat saying openly. o In other word ds Jesus wa as not makiing any bon nes And he spake th a about what was going to happen. He was te elling it like iit is. And P Peter took hiim, and beg gan to rrebuke him.. Now whatt is going on n here?

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Matthew 16 does a better job of explaining the entire setting because he explains the reason why Peter gets on his high horse. Did you ever go to school with a kid who was always the first to raise their hand any time the teacher asked a question – even when they didn’t know the answer? That’s Peter. “Ooh, ooh, I know, I know,” Peter would say, excitedly.

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

Although this is the one time when Peter gets the right answer, Jesus says that his Father whispered in his ear. Peter gets one right answer and Jesus immediately takes it away from him. But Peter does not hear Jesus. What he hears is, “I got it right! Oh yeah. And now I am right”. Meanwhile, back in Mark 8, Jesus starts to tell them about his impending death and Peter is still thinking about how he got the right answer.

I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.

The Gates of Hell In the Greco-Roman culture there were six openings in the earth called the “Gates of Hell”. One was here, a large cave opening behind a temple. Now a rabbi used that term in a different way. In those times, the gates of any Gentile city were known as the Gates of Hell since there would be nothing kosher beyond the doors. Jesus is probably making a small joke here. The Gates of Hell had to do with an old Greco-Roman ritual to determine Hades opening. Jesus is using a “play” on the image of something that is both pagan and rabbinic.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.

Jesus wanted Peter to understand that he was going to use him to build his church and that the Gates of Hades would open up and then fall in front of him. The reason I believe that was a prophecy is because if you go to Acts 10, what do you find? Who is standing in the first Gentile gate with the first Gentile message? It was Peter. “Do you know how unlawful it is for me, a Jew, to be here talking to you?” Cornelius almost had to pry the gospel out of him. It doesn’t occur to Peter that Acts 10 was the fulfillment of a promise given to him at Caesarea Philippi.

I came for the lost sheep of Israel, but I’m also going to save Gentiles. How am I going to do it? You guys. The objective of Jesus was to save the house of Israel by giving an original group of disciples the ability to take the Gospel message to the world and along the way scooping Gentiles up, turning his heart back to his people and saving them. “So, Pete, you have been traveling with me and you saw me with that Syrophenician woman, but I did not come for her. I tell you how we are going to reach them. You are going to do it.” And Peter walked out of this exchange not only knowing there would be something binding and loosing given to him, but that he would make disciples. That is his commission – to make and commission other disciples.

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Standing as they were at a literal “Gate of Hades,” the disciples may have been overwhelmed by Jesus’ challenge. They had studied under their rabbi for several years and now he was commissioning them to a huge task: to attack evil and to build the church on the very places that were most filled with moral corruption.

“Whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” What are binding and loosing? If you asked a rabbi, “Should I marry this girl” and he says “No”, you are bound to his answer because you asked him.

This is the final exam. After this, something startling happens. Jesus will take Peter, James and John up into the mountains east of here. It is about the time of Sukkoth, the Feast of Tabernacles, and a traditional celebration when Jewish people make a “Sukkoth” or “tent” to remember the wilderness experience. On this mountain he will be transfigured. So after they heard who he was, saw who he was, and understood why he did the things he did, he then set his face towards the cross.

The Temple to Augustus The Temple of Augustus was built about 20 years before the birth of Jesus. Augustus was not like any other man. From 23 BC to the time of the birth of Jesus he rose to such prominence that he not only ruled the empire, he was the empire. It was his. By the time of Jesus, the Roman army did not swear allegiance to the Senate or to Rome, but to Caesar Augustus himself. He had such respect among his peers that people worshipped him during his life. He was deified, so a Temple to Augustus would not have been out of the norm. In other words, Caesar went from supreme ruler to a god.

There are two things you should know about a Roman. A real Roman believed in virtus.

A virtu is a high standard of civic duty, morality and community mindedness. It was an ideal, and Augustus personified this ideal of virtus. He was a virtuous man. In reality, he wasn’t, but he had a great PR team! So when Augustus spoke from his position in the Roman cultic world, he was the “holy father” of Rome. When Rome fell in AD 476, the church took over all positions and rescribed each of them. Senators became bishops and cardinals. Orators became priests. And the “holy father” became the Pope. By the way, there was a “holy father” before that and he was called the emperor. The hats were the same size, same color as the ones before them. All they did was change titles.

The Temple to Pan Next to the Temple to Augustus was the Temple to Pan, which was adjacent to the grotto of Pan. A large hole led down to an underground spring. To the pagan mind, the cave and spring water at Caesarea Philippi created a gate to the underworld. They believed that their city was literally at the gates of the underworld – the gates of hell.

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The pagans of Jesus’ J day commonly believed th hat their ferrtility gods liived in the u underworld during the winter and returned to o earth eacch spring. T They saw wa ater as a syymbol o of the underworld and thought tha at their gods traveled tto and from m that world d through ca aves. In o order to enttice the retu urn of Pan, the people of Caesare ea Philippi each year e engaged in n h horrible dee eds, including prostituttion and sex xual interacction betwe een humanss and goatss.

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he walls of the cliffs su urrounding the templess were han nd-carved n niches for pa agan On th g gods and id dols. At the bottom of the t niche is s an inscripttion. There are two tria angles – on ne on e each side of o the inscrip ption. In La atin, this is called c a tab bulae insula ate (insulate ed tablet). W When JJerome wro ote his copy y of the New w Testamen nt John 19::19, translated into the e Latin Vulg gate, as JJESUS OF NAZARET TH THE KIN NG OF THE E JEWS, it w was a tabullae insulate e. Now whyy was tthat importa ant? A tabu ulae insulate e was used only for go ods or holy things. If th hat translatiion was ccorrect, the sign would d have offen nded Jewis sh leaders m more than tthe words o on the sign. When tthey said ta ake it down, it was bec cause it moc cked their g god or a ho oly one.

W Why was s Pilate so Quic ck to Kill Jesus? ?

Therre was one reason Pila ate was quick to kill Je esus. On the front page of the Ro oman T Times, at th he same tim me Jesus was being qu uestioned b

by Pilate, Sejanus had d just u unsuccessffully tried to take over the t empire.. The coupe e against T Tiberias cau used him to b become inc credibly sus spicious. On n top of that, Jesus wa as accused of leading an insurrecction.

So why w did Jesu us die? Acc cording to Roman R reco ords, he wa as leading a an insurrection in tthe middle of o the insurrrection of Sejanus.

S Tib berias wou ld have said that it wa as acceptab ble to kkill anyone you believe ed was tryin ng to take his h throne. T There was a backgrou und for whyy this w was an acceptable way to respon nd. Pilate was w not actin ng in a vacuum. He was told to e eliminate an nybody who o might be involved in an insurrecction.

Abou ut AD 176, a temple was w built in honor h of Ne emesis, the e Greek god ddess of rretributive ju ustice – rev venge. This s would hav ve been abo out the time e of the chilldren’s child dren a and great grand childre en of the fo ounding fath hers of the church. Yo ou did not w worship this g goddess in public. You u went to th he back and d bought a sstatue, on w which you w would write ea ccurse again nst the person you wan nted to avenge. For exxample, “May the fleass of 1,000 ccamels infect your armpits a for the rest of your life!” Then T you w would take the statue a and break itt at the ffront of the temple. No ow you would felt bette er. Of coursse you woulld. You justt vented your 106

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emotion by smashing a doll! There are many similar beliefs and superstitions that have worked their way into our everyday lives – like black cats, walking under ladders – that can be traced back to the Greco-Roman world. They were spread from the Latin language into the romance languages.

Then there is the Temple of Pan and the dancing goats, no doubt the most sadistic place you will ever go. There was a large and heavy circular grill – the type of large grate you would walk over in New York City. They would fire up the grill and then shave off the hooves of the goats to expose the nerves. When the goats were shoved onto the hot metal grill, they of course would dance. Any goat that tried to get off the grill would be slashed with a machete, spraying blood in all directions. If that sounds bad, many Roman fertility rituals involved being showered with the warm blood of slaughtered animals.

Now imagine Peter entering the Roman world of Cornelius, or Paul going in the Roman or Greek world. RJs don’t do blood. But here is a place that celebrated the hacking and bleeding of animals. When you read the New Testament, try to think like a Roman when Paul talks about being cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, or the Savior. It was a very real image from their past life that they understood. We don’t actually think about the blood of Jesus covering us, but they did. When you read your Bible, you must leave your town and your time and enter their town and their time. You must put on the skin of a Biblical person.

For a moment, put yourself in the shoes of the enemy. If you wanted to attack Israel and destroy it, what would you do? You would go after the blood. Get the Christian kids on board with vampires. Go after the blood. Make it small. Demean the name of Jesus and God’s name in daily speech, and put OMG on everything.

If you wanted to paganize the next generation, take away blood. Make it common. And then go after marriage, because it is the story of two marriages and it would tear away what marriage means. The things the enemy is tearing down are all fundamental foundations to the story God is telling. History is his story. And the enemy has only one objective – to get you off his story. Blood becomes in a pagan world, blood rites, blood sacrifices, the demeaning of blood, the commonest of blood, and the drinking of blood. In Deuteronomy 11, you don’t eat animals just to eat animals. The blood thing is a thing and today we have almost erased it.

Why Did God Want Blood?

For seven years, Randy taught in Israel about the Tabernacle. The number one question asked by Jews is, “Why did God want blood?” Blood has been dismissed from Judaism. Blood is gone. The Temple is gone. The idea of blood sacrifice is gone. Frankly, the Jews would have been horrified at slicing the throat of a goat. They have been convinced that God’s story was wrong. That is why I get concerned about churches when I see people participating together in vampire stories. They don’t belong together in the same vocabulary of the God who says don’t touch blood.

Do we really think God would say, “Don’t do this,” but allow us to entertain ourselves with that idea? Of course not. When God said, “Don’t commit adultery,” he did not say it was OK to take a stool to your neighbor’s window and watch them commit adultery instead, or turn on the TV and watch it on the television. If you want to love your wife – love what she loves.

Romans 12:2 – “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Marriage is an experiment into thinking how God thinks. I have no idea how God thinks. Who knew early in our marriage that radial tires were not a perfectly acceptable anniversary gift? I don’t think like my wife, but discovery is the marriage.

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In your walk with God, the discovery is your relationship with Jesus Christ. Get up tomorrow morning and ask Jesus, “What would make you happy today? What would put a smile on your face?” Then you will know the second half of Romans 12:2. Learn to know what will make him happy, what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. That is what he is saying. That is our journey. I think it is exciting. God has a great sense of humor.

Atonement By Blood In 1986, Alpha hospital initiated a series of tests for all Jews immigrating into Israel. All Jews were asked, “Did your parents tell you that you were a Cohen?” Cohen means priest. If you checked the “yes” box, a vial of your blood was taken. By running a DNA profile test, there is a genetic anomaly that belongs to the Coheneen. Since the temple was destroyed we did not know who the priests (Levites) were, but now we can tell. Second, there is a school run by the Temple Institute that has rebuilt implements for the temple. They teach a group of students every day how to put on the sash, how to wear the robe, how to trim the lamp, how to kill the goat, how to tear the head off of a pigeon. They learn all of this and there is not a higher school in all of Jerusalem. That does exist. Third, in New York they have found a number of priestly garbs. There are boxes of them and they do exist. So what we have is the identifying of the priest, the teaching of temple duties, and the garments they wear. There is the mold for the golden candlestick, but that does not exist. It has not been poured, but the mold is ready. So there are thing in the works about a coming temple. There are some things that are just rumors. But there are some things we know as facts.

The majority of modern Jews know nothing about atonement by blood. Most Christians, on the other hand, believe that all offerings were blood based. However, the majority of the offerings at the temple had nothing to do with blood. Most of them were just burning barley.

You may make the point that there is no remission of sin without blood. But that is not what he was trying to say. It is only the sin offering that required blood. He is not trying to say that every sin needed to be atoned with a blood offering because that would negate other parts of the law. Under the judicial agreement of God, there is one blood sacrifice and is the only way to atone for sin.

So how is atonement handled with modern Jews? After the temple was destroyed, the rabbis taught that we used to have a stool that had four legs. 1. We had the Torah. 2. We had the books of Moses. 3. We had prayers and good deeds we could do. 4. We had temple sacrifice. Although we lost our temple sacrifice, a three-legged stool can still stand. And that became the framework of modern day Judaism – a century after the temple was destroyed, approximately AD 160–175.

You could not go to a temple because there wasn’t one. You could not perform temple sacrifices because there wasn’t one. But you could do good deeds, you could pray and could you say the Torah. These things that you could do formed Jewish society. About 25 years after that – around AD 200 – the rabbis moved things that were centered in the temple to be centered in the home. For example, you no longer visited the temple during Passover to sacrifice animals. Now you began to focus on the home and a meal you had with your family.

The rabbis moved Judaism into the homes.

Over the centuries the Jews have endured many horrific things. Jewish people are often associated with money lending and jewelry. But you need to understand why. When Jews went to Europe, they were kicked out of everywhere they went. Real estate was not a sensible investment for a Jew because it would be taken away from you. As a Jew, you need 108

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tto find thing gs that you could quick kly take with h you if you u were on th he run. Man ny Jews be ecame d diamond cu utter becaus se they werre forced into certain ccrafts by the e European n church.

Afterr the Holoca aust, many Jews in the e modern e era felt that their “close eness” wass to ssuffer. They y didn’t feel special. Th hey felt hurrt and woun nded. The id dea of a Go od that wass p personal an nd cared wa as distant. Although A many m Jews living in soccialist counttries grew u up with n no God at all, a they werre able to keep k their Je ewish tradittions. So w when we talkk about the e a ancient Jew ws, God was their life. But when you y talk abo out the mod dern Jews, it’s importa ant to rremember that t some grew g up in families f tha at were dista ant from Go od because e they could dn’t imagine a God G that wo ould allow th hose things s that did ha appen to ha appen.

G Gama ala Like Megiddo Gamala G was s included in the pre-trrip brochure e, but weath her, time, ccrowds o or other circ cumstances s prevented d us from viisiting this ssite. Howevver, if one ssite is misse ed, tthere are att least eightt or nine oth hers to fill th he gap. Ga amala was m mentioned several tim mes on tthe trip. Bec cause of the e history off the region and the evvents that to ook place th here, this information is included d.

An ancient Jewish city in th he Golan Heights, H Gamala was ssituated at tthe southerrn part o of the Golan n, overlooking the Sea a of Galilee. Taking itss name from m the steep p camel hum mpsshaped hill upon which h it was built (Gamala means 'cam mel' in Aram maic) the city was founded a as a Seleuc cid fort durin ng the Syria an Wars an nd has been n inhabited since the E Early Bronzze Age. The site of a Ro oman siege e during the e Great Revvolt of the 1st century C CE, Gamala is a ssymbol of heroism h for the modern n state of Is srael and an n importantt historical a and a archaeologiical site. It currently c re esides within the Gama ala nature rreserve and d is a prominent ttourist attraction.

As th hey returned from ccaptivity aro ound 150 BC, B a small g group of Jew ws founded d Gamala.

L Located nea ar the Sea of Galilee, tthe city stoo od on the so outhern sid de o of a steep mountain. m Homes H were e b built on top of one ano other with th he rroof of one house beco oming the ffront yard of the house e above. A ssheer cliff marked m the uninhabited d n northern sid de of the mo ountain.

The people of Gamala G lo oved God and a they bu uilt a ssynagogue as early as s 100 BC, o one of the oldest o disco overed in Israel. The synagogue e functioned d a as a commu unity centerr, serving as a a courtroom m, school an nd common n g gathering place.

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The synagogue e later developed into a religious ccenter, provviding a pla ace to pray,, study T Torah, and cultivate on ne’s relation nship with God. G The G Gamala syn nagogue wa as most like ely sstanding du uring Jesus’’ time, and the Messia ah may have e stood the ere as he w went through hout G Galilee, teaching in the eir synagog gues (Matt. 4:23).

Gam mala was a hotbed h of political p rebe ellion during g Jesus’ tim me. The cityy was the ho sought tto b birthplace of o the Zealo ot movemen nt – a group p of fiercelyy independe ent Jews wh o overthrow Rome.

R Wan nting to serv ve God alon ne, the Zea alots soughtt political frreedom for the JJews. They y believed itt was a morral responsibility to ove erthrow Ro ome, and ussed violence and tterrorism as s methods to t reach the eir goal.

Restored d First Centu ury BC Synag gogue at Gam mala

Z loo oked forward to the com ming Mess iah as one who would d bring milita ary The Zealots p power and freedom f fro om the Rom mans. Theirr war cry wa as “Hosann na!” and the eir physical ssymbol was s a palm bra anch.

As Je esus entere ed Jerusale em during his h final dayys, he was g greeted by these symbols of tthe Zealot movement. m With their hearts h set on o earthly ffreedom, the Zealots e expected Je esus to o overthrow Rome.

R They y completelly missed Jesus’ messsage of spirritual freedo om. Jesus w wept a as he saw the t Zealots’’ palm bran nches, know wing that the eir quest fo or political frreedom wo ould ccome to a gruesome g end. e Jesus spoke s to the crowd, sa aying, “If yo ou only had d known on this d day what would w bring you y peace - but now itt is hidden ffrom your e eyes” (Luke e 19:42).

Jesu us' message e differed greatly from that of the Zealots. He offered frreedom – b but not in earthly orr political ways. w Instea ad, he offere ed spiritual freedom and lived a h humble lifesstyle w with little ea arthly power. Jesus co onducted his s ministry a as a Jewish h rabbi in the region off G Galilee, an area of con nflicting worrld views. Secular S Jew ws would co ooperate wiith Rome in n one ccity, while Zealots Z encouraged revolt in anotther. Religio ous Jews w worshipped God while p pagans wattched porno ographic pla ays just miles away. Jesus prese ented his ow wn message a amidst this cauldron off competing g ideas. ause he spo oke with Go od’s authority, many p people recog gnized Jesus as a rab bbi with Beca ssmikeh – on ne of the few exceptional rabbis with w the autthority to te each their o own interpre etation 110

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of the Text. Matthew 7 tells us that the crowds were amazed at his teaching because he taught them as one who had authority. Jesus had a passion for the Text. As a smikeh rabbi, he knew the entire Hebrew Testament because he inspired the writing of it. And as a master storyteller, he often wove biblical concepts together in a new way.

Jesus was recognized as a rabbi even in non-Jewish regions. He learned about the desires and experiences of pagan culture so that he could teach about salvation with words and pictures they would understand. As a Jewish rabbi, Jesus probably wore tassels on the corners of his garment. The Jewish practice of wearing these tassels developed from God’s command in Numbers 15:38-39, “You are to make tassels on the corners of your garments so you will remember all the commands of the LORD.” Josephus Flavius, Commander of Galilee during the Jewish Revolt against Rome, in 66 AD fortified Gamala as his main stronghold on the Golan. Josephus gives a very detailed topographical description of the city and the steep ravines that precluded the need to build a wall around it. Constructed by blocking gaps between existing houses and destroying houses that lay in its way, an 1,100 foot-long wall was built along the northern saddle, at the town's eastern extremity.

Initially loyal to the Romans, Gamala turned rebellious under the influence of refugees from other locations. It was one of only five cities in the Galilee and Golan who stood against Vespasian's legions, reflecting the cooperation between the local population and the rebels.

At the time of the revolt, the town minted its own coins, probably more as a means of propaganda than as a currency. Bearing the inscription "For the redemption of Jerusalem the Holy". Only six of these coins have ever been found.

Josephus also provides a detailed description of the Roman siege and conquest of Gamala in 67 AD by components of legions X Fretensis, XV Apollinaris and XV Macedonica.

The Romans first attempted to take the city by means of a siege ramp, but were repulsed by the defenders. Only on the second attempt did the Romans succeed in breaching the walls at three different locations and invade the city. They then engaged the Jewish defenders in hand-to-hand combat up the steep hill. Fighting in the cramped streets from an inferior position, the Roman soldiers attempted to defend themselves from the roofs.

These subsequently collapsed under the heavy weight, killing many soldiers and forcing a Roman retreat. The legionnaires re-entered the town a few days later, eventually beating Jewish resistance and completing the capture of Gamala.

According to Josephus, some 4,000 inhabitants were slaughtered, while 5,000 people trying to escape down the steep northern slope were either trampled to death, fell or perhaps threw themselves down a ravine. These numbers appear to have been exaggerated since the number of inhabitants on the eve of the revolt has been estimated between 3,000 and 4,000.

The notion that these inhabitants committed mass suicide has also been questioned, as the account appears to force an analogy with the story of the end of the siege of Masada, also recounted by Josephus. The Greek word “Josephus” implies a hasty, clumsy flight while suicide is forbidden under most circumstances by Jewish law. Either way, many people died.

Golan Heights Located at the southern end of the Lebanon Mountains and straddling the borders of Syria and Israel, the Golan Heights form a rocky plateau of great strategic importance. With 111

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an average altitude of 3,300 feet and an area totaling 690 square miles, elevations range from 6,600 feet in the north to below sea level along the Sea of Galilee and the Yarmuk River in the south. A popular tourist destination attracting three million tourists a year, the Golan has a rich history and features numerous archeological landmarks, scenic streams, mountains and waterfalls. The Golan Heights also contribute significantly to the water resources of the region, providing about 15 percent of Israel's water supply. The region is also the source of a large proportion of Israel's agricultural production.

The earliest evidence of human habitation dates to the Upper Paleolithic period.

According to the Bible, an Amorite Kingdom in Bashan (Golan Heights) – in Deuteronomy 4:43, Joshua 20:8, 1 Chronicles 6:71, was conquered by Israelites during the reign of King Og. The biblical narrative also indicates that the Israelite tribe of Manasseh inhabited the region.

Today, the Druses live in some of this area. They are the white wool headwear group and black garb people we saw in the airport and on the first day in the Mt. Carmel area. They prefer to live in cold, high altitude areas. They are also very loyal to the country they live in.

Druses have an interesting belief – as soon as one dies another one is born. When the French Mandate of Syria ended in 1944, the Golan Heights became part of the newly independent state of Syria. Four years later in 1948, Israel became a state. After the 1948/49 Arab-Israeli War, the Golan Heights were partly demilitarized by the Israel-Syria Armistice Agreement. During the following years, with the armistice agreement violated by both sides, the area along the border witnessed thousands of violent incidents. The underlying causes of the conflict were a disagreement over the legal status of the demilitarized zone (DMZ), the cultivation of the land within it and competition over water resources. Syria claimed that neither party had sovereignty over the DMZ while Israel contented that the Armistice Agreement dealt solely with military concerns and that she had political and legal rights over the region. Israel wanted to assert control up until the 1923 boundary in order to reclaim the Hula swamp, gain exclusive rights to Lake Galilee and divert water from the Jordan for its National Water Carrier. During the 1950s, Syria registered two principal territorial accomplishments, taking over the Al-Hammah enclosure south of Lake Tiberias and establishing a de-facto presence on and control of eastern shore of the lake.

Attempts by Israel and Syria to divert water from the Jordan River and its tributaries in the 1950s and 60s sparked a series of military exchanges in July 1966. With active support from Syria, Fatah began raids into Israeli territory in early 1965. At first, the militants would enter via Lebanon or Jordan. When those countries made concerted attempts to stop them, raids directly from Syria increased. Israel's response was a series of retaliatory raids, of which the largest were an attack on the Jordanian village of Samu in November 1966. In April 1967, after Syria heavily-shelled Israeli villages from the Golan Heights, Israel shot down six Syrian MiG fighter planes and warned Syria against future attacks.

In the period between Israel’s War of Independence (1948) and the Six Day War (1967), the Syrians constantly harassed Israeli border communities by firing artillery shells from their dominant positions on the Golan Heights. In October 1966, Israel raised the matter with the United Nations. Although five nations sponsored a resolution criticizing Syria for its actions, it failed to pass due to a Soviet veto.

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he land capttured by Isrrael during the 1967 S Six-Day War in which Israel Two--thirds of th lo ost 600 me en, has sinc ce been occ cupied by Is srael. Imme ediately afte er the war, Israel was willing tto give up th he Golan in n exchange for peace with Syria. Syria, how wever, refussed to negotiate.

Acco ording to Sh hlomo, who was 14 at the time, th he Six-Day War left Isrrael cocky a and a arrogant sin nce they tho ought their military cou uld not be d defeated. S Shlomo, now w at age 20 0, is sserving in th he military. Egypt attac cks across the Sinai – a large bu uffer zone. H However, th here a are no such h large buffe er zones with Syria. Jo ordan doess not get invvolved. Alth hough Israe el could e easily handle the attac ck from Egy ypt, the Syrians now ha ave Soviet arms and tthey have a adopted the e Soviet millitary tactics s of fighting g during the e day and re esting at nig ght.

Since e Israel relies on a res serve army and not a sstanding arrmy allowing reinforcements tto be called d up at night, the Syrian tactics ga ave Israel a tactical ad dvantage. H However, although tthey pushed d Syria bac ck to within 25 miles off Damascuss, Israel losst 2,700 me en – a greatt shock tto the counttry.

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Taken from m a military bunker, the e green area a is Israel, a and the bro own area is Syria. The b border with Sy yria is the la ake.

Durin ng the Yom m Kippur Wa ar in 1973, Syrian forcces overran much of th he southern n G Golan, befo ore being pu ushed back k by an Isra aeli countera attack. In th he aftermatth of the 19 973 Y Yom Kippurr War, Israe el agreed to o return abo out five perccent of the territory to Syrian civilian ccontrol. This s strip is no ow under th he military control c of UN peace ke eeping force es. That wa as 38 yyears ago. Since S then,, this has be een the quiietest borde er with Israe el.

The problem no ow is that th he weapons s come from m Iran to Syyria to Leba anon. Syria a ssupports He ezbollah. Because the ey train in Damascus, D S Syria is still attacking and harasssing the b borders of Israel by pro oxy. Iran re emains a major, majorr threat. Iraq q used to be a threat p prior to tthe conflict with the US S, the UK and a allied fo orces. Altho ough Syria a always is a threat, the ccountry is now n seemin ngly preoccu upied with its i own inte ernal proble ems.

One of the prob blems of the e Golans an nd all the bo orders with h Israel is th he piece of paper tthat gives you y peace. The T people e you make peace with h today mayy not be in power tomorrow.

T Take Egyptt, for examp ple. Althoug gh Egypt wa as a cold pe eace, it wass at least p peace. Now the M Muslim Brottherhood will w be the le eading force e in that cou untry, who knows wha at that will b bring.

W We gave the Sinai bac ck to Egypt with Mubarak as pressident. How w long will th hat piece off paper b be worth an nything with h a non-Dem mocratic na ation? Rabin n believed that we sho ould take th he p peace we can c get now w and deal with w the futu ure later. Issrael is a be eautiful hou use in a loussy n neighborhood.

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In the photto above, the e area betwe een the two la akes is the D DMZ – a ghos st town. The town in the upper c center is a military m camp. There are no n civilians along a this bo order. Israel w would feel sa afer is civilia ans lived in this area.

Minefield wa arning sign in n the Golan

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Nimrod N Castle from the C Crusades

S Summ mary of o Day Three e Yesterday, we reviewed r Mark M 5, 6 an nd 7 and Ma atthew 5, 6, 7, 10 and 13. Today we ooked at th he second half h of Mark k 7 and cha apter 8, and d Matthew 1 15 and 16. In other wo ords, lo w we are chec cking off the e parts of th he gospel of o Jesus’ ministry. So w we have co overed the e early m ministry of Jesus, J the popular p min nistry of Jes sus around the Sea an nd the withd drawal ministry of JJesus from the Sea, en nding in the e final exam m and the trransfiguration. Now they set theirr face ttoward Jeru usalem.

The climax is re eached in th he eighth ch hapter of M Mark’s gospel. In the firrst eight chapters, iff Jesus was s running fo or Messiah, could he be b elected? ? Could he qualify for M Messiah? L Look for tthe phrase “power ove er” in the firs st half of Mark. Jesus had “power over” the sea. He ha ad ““power overr” the sickness. He had “power over” the de emons.

The high point of o Mark’s Gospel, G chapter eight, iis: “Who do o men say tthat I am, w who do yyou say I am m?” In the second s halff of Mark, 9-16, 9 Jesus is facing th he cross an nd redemptiion.

T The climax of Mark is chapter c eig ght. That is where we w were today. It is all dow wnhill afterr that!

In Ma atthew we reviewed r chapters 5, 6 and 7, the e Sermon o on the Mount; 10 and 13 p parables an nd parables s of success s; and 15 and 16. Mattthew jumpss around.

W Why do we e celebrate e on Sunda ay?

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In an article titled “From Saturday to Sunday – how it came about” Samuel Bacchiocchi of the Pontifical Biblical Institute, wrote: “The short version is that Christianity during Paul’s life was regarded as a sect of Judaism. Christianity did not become fully separated from Judaism for almost 300 years.”

In order to separate itself from its Jewish roots, the church developed “quick attitude” to distinguish itself from mother Judaism. For example, John was a great writer, but not so good on discipleship. We know that because Polycarp is one of John’s disciples and he writes a book in which he says he knows nothing of the Hebrew Scriptures.

By the beginning of the second century, a group of people had already divorced themselves from what they were based on. When persecutions started under Nero, Messianic would say, “I’m not a Jew, I’m a Christian.” But as far as Rome was concerned, Christianity was just a sub-sect of Judaism. By the time of the second century, there were more nonMessianic believers than Messianic believers.

Paul wrote in Greek. He is preaching the Gospel in a language that is laden with pagan words. The days of the week are pagan names. The months of the year are pagan. Even the phrase “God bless you” when you sneeze comes from a pagan practice.

The early church collected money on the first day of the week, but they worshipped every day.

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The Perean Ministry of Jesus Beth She`an A large town in the Galilee region of northern Israel, Beth She`an is located in the Beth She`an Valley and part of the northern Jordan Valley. Modern day Beth She`an is in the throat of the Valley of Jezreel, where it falls into the Jordan Valley. This is the east side of the Jezreel Valley. Mount Carmel lies on the west side. The town lies completely below sea level.

This is the largest single excavation site we visited. Although excavation has been continuous for the past 22 years, the last 12 years have been restorative, which means that a lot of money has been spent to show visitors what things used to look like. If you like Egypt and large-scale monumental archaeology, this site will appeal to you.

We visited the area of the Decapolis. Deca means 10, and polis means city. Although Gadara was one of the cities included in the confederation of the Decapolis, we visited the city of Scythopolis, referred to in the Old Testament as “Beth She`an”. Scythopolis is its New Testament name. This town was so huge that if they excavated the entire site, it would wipe out all of the modern downtown area. It subsequently became the capital city of the Decapolis and was the only one on the west side of the Jordan River. All the other cities are in Jordan.

Israel enjoys somewhat of a warm peace with the Jordanians. On day three, Shlomo talked about the cold peace with Egypt that really is just a piece of paper. With the Jordanians, however, peace between the two countries is conditional on Israel transferring a huge amount of water to Jordan each year. In other words, Jordan gets paid to be peaceful. Jordan has a water problem. In the whole kingdom, the only water sources are the Jordan River and three small streams. It is practically a desert.

The Jordan River, which separates Israel and Jordan, has three levels. There is the geological rift called the ghor. Then there is a series of little bumpy hills called the Catatta Hills.

This was a forested area in Bible times where one could find lions, tigers and bears. During the time of David, there were forests on both sides of the Jordan River. Throughout the Bible, the forest is mentioned, so what happened to the trees?

From 1550 to the start of World War I in 1914, the Ottoman Turkish Empire ruled this area. This period of time marked the rise of the industrial age. Machines were being made and railroads were being built. Since wood was such an important and valuable resource, the Turks’ tax system was based on how many trees people had on their property. Consequently, the people cut down trees to reduce their taxes and traded the wood in for the tax value. The wood was then sold to support the industrial revolution. The term “cutting one’s taxes” originates from this time.

The rain brings the trees, but the trees also bring the rain. When you reduce the forest, you also reduce the rainfall. There is correlation between the size of the forest and the annual amount of rainfall the region receives. Therefore, Israel has been on a mission to restore the forest and increase the rainfall, thus restoring the landscape to its former glory. Remember, Solomon had an administrator over trees for his forest.

South of Beth She`an, in the region of Perea, was a bridge that people coming from the Galilee used to cross the river and therefore avoid the area of Samaria. The

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Perean Ministry was located in this area on the Jordan side of the river. This period of Jesus’ ministry lasted six months. This is called the “bad mood” side of Jesus, because there was an urgency with Jesus that the disciples did not know about.

The Last Supper was not the Last Supper to everyone, only to Jesus. He knows what is going to happen, but the others don’t yet understand. Jesus’ sense of urgency is because he knows what is going to happen. He knows his hour has come, but the others don’t. So Matthew 19, sets the stage for the Perean ministry.

Imagine you are an RJ on the Perean side of the river, where nothing ever happens and your only form of entertainment is watching the barley grow. But you can see this huge Decapolis city across the river. You might be able to hear thousands of people laughing in a theater or cheering on their favorite team in the Hippodrome. You are a young Jewish kid living in the shadow of all of this excitement and your parents tell you to stay put – to sit on the front porch and watch the grain grow. How many of you would be tempted to run away to the big city? Perea is all about young kids who are running away, sucked away from their RJ life by the glitz and glamour of Beth She’an.

In Matthew 19, Jesus talks about children and divorce. Why divorce? Not only were families falling apart in Perea, but John the Baptist had been arrested for talking about the divorce of the king on the front page of the newspaper. Several months later, he was beheaded.

When a oyal wedding occurs, most people watch it on TV or read about it in the Inquirer. Inquiring minds wanted to know what he thought and John told them. So when the Pharisee asked Jesus about divorce, he was responding to the story that was on the front page of the paper, NOT divorce in general.

Randy said the way he learned to study a subject like divorce in the Bible was to go to Genesis 1–3 and see the way God intended it to be, jump over to Deuteronomy 24:1–5, over to Malachi 2:15–16, Matthew 7:19, and 1 Corinthians 7.

What does God say about the subject of divorce? It is not how many different commentaries you can read. God is not wrong. When you put all the books together, you went from the desert at Sinai to the Roman world and you made it all one thing. The Bible is not a book. It is a library. And it is not played out in one weekend. It was written over 1,400 years with more than 40 writers, but just one author. The laws in 1 Corinthians 7 were for a Roman world, which was different than the world of Moses, which was different than today. For example, if you live together for seven years in Florida, it is considered a common law marriage. In the Roman world, it was one year. In Florida, there is the “I now pronounce you man and wife” ceremonial wedding. But in Corinth there was also a Tent marriage. For example, if “Joe” slave was paired with “Sally” slave in year one to make baby slaves, and in year two Joe slave was paired off with Deborah slave to make more baby slaves, who is Joe’s wife?

Part of 1 Corinthians 7 answers that question. When you take a problem from Biblical times and try to force it into our world, you start to say things you don’t know. Paul taught that if you were a slave and were forced into a sexual situation, you were not responsible for your actions. If you did not have any control over the situation, you were not responsible for it.

There is also a fourth kind of marriage that exists in Corinth that does not exist in Florida. In the Roman world, wealthy people could call in your debt in exchange for your daughter as a pleasurable service woman for up to seven years. In the Roman world, it was perfectly acceptable for a man to have sex with another woman in his house with his wife’s full knowledge as long as the woman he was sleeping with was a lower station than she was.

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In the e early church, who do o you think became le eaders in the church – the rich or the p poor? It was s probably the rich. Off those wea althy men, h how many w would have e had pleassurable sservice wive es? It was a common occurrence e. While a R Roman wou uld say thatt since it is legal, it m must be righ ht, 1 Corintthians 7 say ys that the circle c of sexxuality is fo or one man and one w woman.

S So even tho ough that behavior is legal, it is not biblical.

If we e redefine th he marriage e laws in ou ur country in n the next ffive years, tthat does n not cchange God d’s definitio on of what a marriage is. That onlly changes the law’s d definition. Ju ust b because so omething is declared le egal by man n does not mean that it is biblicallly right.

W Walking the City y of Scy ythopolis s In the e backgrou und of the photograph p below, you u can see th he tallest te el (hill) in Isrrael.

T That is the Old O Testam ment town of o Beth She e`an. The ru uins at the b bottom of th he tel are th he New T Testament city of Scytthopolis. Yo ou will notic ce a lone tre ee at the top of the tel. That tree was w where Juda as hung him mself in the movie Jesu us Christ Su uperstar. T That tel is m made up of 2 20 ccities, each built on top p of the other. That’s 20 2 layers th hat date bacck to 4000 BC. Archaeology is a destructiv ve science.. As you dig g down, you u take thing gs away to expose tthe past. Yo ou go back in time. Ev ventually, when you ha ave gone th hrough all 20 layers of the city, yyou reach th he oldest site at groun nd level. Ov ver the nextt few years, archaeolo ogists will sllowly rremove the tel leaving only the tre ee at the to op to mark h how tall the e tel was.

e foot” histtory of Scy ythopolis The “standing on one

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“Standing on one foot” is an ancient phrase. The rabbis used to be very verbose. To keep an answer short, a student would say, “Rabbi, will you answer this question while you are standing on one foot?”

Beth She`an means “house of learning” or “house of rest”. The reason the two translations are similar is because people reclined when they read. The tel is high because it sits at the intersection of the east-west highway and the north-south highway. Whoever controlled the intersection controlled the highways. It was a location everyone wanted. Beth She`an was the center of Egyptian rule in the northern part of Canaan during the Late Bronze Period. Monuments with inscriptions from the reigns of Seti I and Ramses II have been found, plus a life-size statue of Ramses III and many other Egyptian inscriptions.

You will find both Egyptian and Canaanite wares at this site. The Egyptians came in, conquered the Canaanites and took over the city. They built it up only to have it overrun by the Canaanites again. Then the Egyptians came back. Layer after layer, Canaanites conquered the Egyptians and the Egyptians conquered the Canaanites. Back and forth they went. It was all about control. The last time this place fell was 732 BC to the Assyrians. Some 10 years later, the Assyrians took the capital and the northern kingdom fell.

Beth She`an was part of the territory originally given to the tribe of Manasseh when Israel returned to the Promised Land at the time of Joshua. They could not hold the territory, however. Judges 1:27-28, But Manasseh did not drive out the people of Beth She’an or Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that land. When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely. (NIV) Remember that at the death of King Saul (1 Samuel 31:8-13) the Philistines were said to control the city. It was not until the time of Solomon's kingdom that Beth She`an was ruled directly, at least for a time, by Israel. The city is mentioned a number of times in the Old Testament. For example, the fall of King Saul to the Philistines at Gilboa:

1 Samuel 31:8-13, The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. They cut off his head and stripped off his armor, and they sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temple of their idols and among their people. They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and fastened his body to the wall of Beth She’an. When the people of Jabesh Gilead heard of what the Philistines had done to Saul, all their valiant men journeyed through the night to Beth She’an. They took down the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth She’an and went to Jabesh, where they burned them. Then they took their bones and buried them under a tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted seven days. (NIV) [Also 2 Samuel 21:12] 2 Samuel begins with David mourning the death of his friend Jonathan, and his king, who sometimes threw spears at him. 1 Kings 4:7–12, Solomon holds Beth She`an. Solomon also had twelve district governors over all Israel, who supplied provisions for the king and the royal household. Each one had to provide supplies for one month in the year. These are their names: Ben-Hur — in the hill country of Ephraim; Ben-Deker — in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth Shemesh and Elon Bethhanan; Ben-Hesed — in Arubboth (Socoh and all the land of Hepher were his); Ben-Abinadab — in Naphoth Dor (he was married to Taphath daughter of Solomon);

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B Baana son of Ahilud — in Taanac ch and Meg giddo, and iin all of Betth She’an n next to Zare ethan b below Jezre eel, from Be eth She’an to Abel Me eholah acro oss to Jokm meam... (NIV V) Nextt, the Assyrians came and knocke ed it down. In 586, the e Babylonia ans passed through a and it was nothing n but a hill. In 33 33 BC, Alex xander the Great came e through a and conque ered the w western world. He died d and his empire was split four w ways. Ptolem my got conttrol over Eg gypt, P Palestine an nd Arabia. He was nott a fighter, but b a lover.. Rather tha an build an army, he w wanted tto buy an arrmy. He we ent out to re ecruit Scyth hian archerss to come to o his new ccity of Scyth hopolis, w which is how w it got its name. n Scytthopolis wa as founded d during the Biblical sile ence of the interttestament period p of 25 50–200 BC and encom mpassed the e area of an ncient Beth h She`an.

This area has experienced e d two majorr earthquakkes. The firsst one occu urred in abo out the m middle of th he fourth ce entury (350 AD) and th he second o one in Octo ober, 749 AD, thus free ezing B Beth She`an/Scythopo olis in time. usands of coins c and se everal thousand piece es of potteryy have been n found. In the Thou b biblical era, if you ate at a somebod dy’s house, you carried d your own n plate. If the plate broke, you kkept the pie eces and wrrote notes on o them. Th herefore, m many of the broken pie eces of potte ery take tthe form of “Post It” no otes. Sadly, because we w didn’t un nderstand th his custom for a long ttime, m many old “P Post It” note es were des stroyed in the cleaning g process. T Today, eacch piece is ccarefully inspected under u infra-rred light forr inscription ns before it is cleaned.

Archaeology is still a baby science. A lot of thing gs have bee en uncoverred but not d discovered. Just aboutt everything g we now know about the ancient world hass come sincce 1860 w with the exc cavation of Troy.

A mode el of what the e Roman city y of Scythopo olis would ha ave looked like based on n archaeolog gical discoveries. 1. The heartt of old city of o Beth She`a an and a sac cred pagan te emple area. 2. The amph hitheater.

3. The T coliseum m. 4. The ma rket/shops.

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The theater t abo ove in Scyth hopolis sat up to 7,000 0 people. T This theaterr is more resstored tthan the one in Caesarea Maritim ma. It had wider, w broad der seats att the lower llevel for recclining a and smallerr, narrower seats at the top. Overr the years,, many ston nes from thiis site have e been ttaken away y by the loca als to use in n their own homes. Aft fter all, it is easier to usse a cut, sh haped sstone than to t cut one from f scratch.

Therre were spe ecial box se eats that enabled visito ors to enterr and leave without being b bothered by y the crowd d. This theater was like e a modern--day theate er with deco orative plan nts, cconcession stands, a bathroom b and a water.

L Luke 14-15 5 L Luke chapte er 15 is set in the Pere ean ministry y. The storyy actually sstarts in Lukke 14. Jesus is in P Perea at a house h like the t one in Zippori Z with h the beautiful mosaic floor. After Sabbath w worship, JJesus was invited i for a meal by a Pharisee. This large house wass surrounde ed by manyy smaller h homes. Perrea is the Florida of Isrrael. People e came herre for escap pism. The p people who lived in tthe smaller houses wa aited on and d served the e people in n the larger houses.

L Luke 14 And it came to pass, p as he e went into the house o of one of th he chief Pha arisees to e eat b bread on th he Sabbath day, that th hey watched him. And d, behold, th here was a certain man b before him which had the dropsy.. And Jesus s answering g spake unto the lawyyers and Ph harisees, 123

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saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?” And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go; And answered them, saying, “Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath day?”

And they could not answer him again to these things. And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them,” When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honorable man than thou be bidden of him; And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.

But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.

For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. “Then said he also to him that bade him, “When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.”

And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, “Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.” Then said he unto him, “A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things.

Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.” And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,”If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.

Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

Salt is good: but if the salts have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear let him hear.”

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Randy said that chapter 14 could have a sub-theme. There is a cost for your freedom in his sermon titled, “My Father’s Heart”. In some ways, this scripture has been dissected and misrepresented. So often we hear only the “lost son” part, but that is only some of the story.

The New Testament was written by people who lived in the Middle East about 2,000 years ago. The authors were not westerners. The Old Testament was written many centuries earlier.

The writers assumed that those who would read the letters would be aware of the customs and laws of that time and place. Remember, the Bible needs to be read with 2,000-year-old Middle Eastern eyes. We need to look at these verses as they were written and to whom they were written.

Luke, in addition to being a doctor, was also a historian, a Greek, a friend of Paul and a Gentile. In fact, he was the only Gentile writer in the Bible. As a historian, he interviewed people in person who were at an event, got their account of the facts, and wrote their recollections of the event.

First of all, on this day, what Luke is recounting actually starts with Chapter 14.

Chapters 14 and 15 are one event, but they can be – and have been – recounted as many separate stories. It starts with Jesus teaching in Galilee. These are the last few months of his three-year ministry, and he is slowly making his way to Jerusalem. His ministry was being increasingly criticized. The Pharisees and those who were most knowledgeable of the law were becoming his most severe critics.

Jesus had been very critical of the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. Because of that, they were looking for any excuse to twist his words and trap him. On this particular day, he was in Perea on a Saturday afternoon. The people had been to the synagogue. As was the custom, a visiting teacher or Rabbi like Jesus, would have been invited to talk at the Sabbath Service.

Jesus had talked and was then invited to the house of a prominent Pharisee for lunch. The dialogue, which began at the Sabbath Service, was continued at lunch, or in a banquet hall setting. This is the last of six Sabbath controversies recorded in the gospels. The Pharisees were unable to convict Jesus of any sin. Their only grounds for accusation were that: 1. Jesus and his disciples failed to observe cleanliness rituals.

2. Jesus and his disciples associated with people of low reputation (outcasts).

3. Jesus worked on the Sabbath.

Of the three, the last accusation was the most serious. The Pharisees could use Scriptural commands to charge Jesus.

A Pharisee’s house was large and extravagant, and owned by a wealthy person. We know from archeological digs that these homes had a large dining room with three large tables that opened up to the center of the room so the servants could serve food. Since the tables did not have chairs, people laid down on their left side to be served and eat. This room was called a tri-clinium – tri meaning “three” and clinium meaning “recline”. The guests were seated in order of importance. The end with the pillows was the preferred seating. The people at the pillow end were the most important; the ones in the middle the next most important, and the ones on the far end were the least important. This room also had three doors, two small ones on either side and a large one in the center that opened up to an atrium and garden area. The people at the Sabbath Service who were not invited to dinner stood in the public atrium near this door and listened to the conversation while watching the people eat. This is the setting as Chapter 14 begins.

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Luke 14 In Luke 14:2, Jesus saw a man suffering from dropsy – an abnormal accumulation of fluids in the body cavities. This man was standing in the atrium so he was not one of the invited guests. Jesus knew the Pharisees were watching his every action and listening to every word he said, so Jesus sarcastically asked if it was acceptable to heal on the Sabbath. Note: This remark refers to an incident in Luke 13:10–17, where Jesus healed a woman on the Sabbath and the religious leaders chastised him because they considered this healing as a profession and said it was prohibited by Jewish law. In verse 15, Jesus pointed out their hypocrisy by saying that each of them would happily tend to their oxen or donkeys, but not a human. He humiliates the religious leaders.

This time, in verse 4, when Jesus asked if it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath, they remained silent. He healed the man. “If one of you has a son, or an ox that fall into a well on the Sabbath, would you not immediately pull him out?” In verse 6, they continued to remain silent.

In chapter 14, verse 7, Jesus noticed that the people were jockeying for a better position at the tables, and he commented to them with a parable. Remember how the disciples discussed seating and who was more important in the upper room? The more important you were, the better your place at the dining table. Jesus told them that they looked dumb and that when they come into a place like this, they would be better off taking a low spot and being bumped up, than a high spot and being bumped down. “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

To be humble means to think of the other person first. In verse 12, Jesus turned to the host and said, “You would be better off by not inviting your friend or relatives to these banquets, those who can repay you, but by inviting the poor and disadvantaged, those who do not have the means to repay you. You would be blessed.” When we forget what God freed us from, we begin to elevate ourselves in our minds and think of ourselves as more important than we actually are. Jesus was telling the Pharisee not to invite the influential, but to become an influence.

Key Note: When Jesus hung on a cross, all human history was divided. On one side was a man who did not believe and on the other side was a man who did. They were both criminals. They were both guilty. But when Jesus turned to the one and said “Today you will be with me in paradise,” this man had nothing to give Jesus. This man could not repay Jesus. This man was hanging on a cross and about to die. Jesus did not ask him if he had been baptized or how many good deeds he had accomplished in his life. When this man recognized Jesus, believed in him, Jesus, through his love for us and his grace, gave this man eternal life. It is with this attitude that we should really send out the guest list.

In verse 15, a sarcastic response finally came from one of the people at the table where Jesus was sitting, “Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God,” Basically he was saying, “Blessed are we. God loves us”.

During this period of time, if you were wealthy, you were considered to be blessed and on your way to heaven. It was assumed that if you were wealthy, God had his hand on you and was guiding your steps. By now, however, the people on the outside were being drawn to Jesus, but the people on the inside were beginning to move away from him.

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In verse 16, Jesus told the parable of the great feast. It was customary to send two invitations to a party. The first invitation announced the event and the second informed the invitees that everything was ready. In this parable, when the people received their second invitation, they started to make excuses as to why they couldn’t come. God’s invitation to us is the most important event in our lives, no matter how inconveniently it may be timed.

Another way to consider this parable is to review how the first invitation from God to the Israelites came from Moses. The second invitation came from Jesus. The Pharisees accepted the first invitation (from the writings of Moses) and rejected the second invitation (the one from Jesus). Are you making excuses to avoid God’s feast? Jesus reminds us that the time will come when God will pull his invitation to join him – then it will be too late to get into the banquet.

Jesus had two messages in these verses: 1. Service is more important in God’s kingdom than status.

2. God’s kingdom is open to everyone.

In verse 25, it appears that the Pharisees had left the room and were physically following Jesus, but the translation shows that they were just following his train of thought, agreeing with what he was saying. They had not physically gone anywhere. Jesus was saying that it is not easy to follow him. If you want to be set free, there is a cost for this freedom.

Jesus does not set you free just so you can salt and pepper your life with a little God talk and live the way you want to live. That is not the deal. The deal is that he lays his life down for you and you give him your life so he can live through you. Be an example. There is a cost to discipleship.

Mashal – The Parables Throughout the centuries, the parables, or mashal (mashalim in the Hebrew language) of Scripture have been a source of great delight and inspiration. Nearly all of the Biblical parables use the common words and images of everyday life to express sublime and eternal truths. Arguably, and depending upon the criteria of definition, there are no less than 31 parables in the teachings of Jesus.

Jesus spoke in parables to the rich and poor alike and they were addressed to both leaders and servants. To those hearers, overwhelmingly of Jewish (Hebraic) background, the use of parables was not foreign. In fact, parables were a familiar way to exemplify b’al peh (orally) the hidden depths of spiritual knowledge and to encourage the listeners to seek first the kingdom of GOD and His righteousness. – Matthew 6:33. Many were inspired to do exactly that.

One highly significant difference between the parables of Jesus and the rabbinic counterparts could be termed, the issue of ‘distinctive authority’. This concept involves recognition of the unique authoritative viewpoint that Jesus brought to all of His teachings, including His mashalim. Jesus entered the synagogue and began to teach, and they were amazed at his teaching. “He was teaching them having authority and not as the Scribes.” – Mark 1:21-22. To state this premise another way, one might say that Jesus spoke as the King, not about the king. “Heaven and earth may pass away but my words will never pass away.” – Matthew 24:35.

There was a general wonderment among the handpicked disciples of the Lord concerning a number of questions. One of these questions involved His use of parables in 127

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teaching the people. Matthew 10:10, And the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Why do you speak to them in parables?’ A major portion of the response of Jesus to their query centers upon His statement in verse 14. “In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled..”

Other passages reflect the keen awareness that Jesus had pertaining to the active fulfillment of scripture before His dreadful sufferings. Note: Read Matthew 26:56; Luke 4:21, 18:31, 22:37 and John 17:12. This aspect of prophetic fulfillment is unparalleled by any other person, not to mention written or spoken parables. Succinctly, Jesus was the Promised One and His actions fully verify that to be true.

Luke 15:1–3

Chapter 15 begins with the tax collectors and sinners in the atrium leaning in to hear the conversation. The Pharisees were grumbling that Jesus wanted to associate with all people, not just the religious upper crust. This is the framework that leads into the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son. Study Bibles often show it as three separate stories, but it is one story with three separate illustrations. This type of parable is called a chain, or string, parable. The three stories are linked with a common theme and they are not three separate parables, though they are generally taught separately. It is one parable, and it is called the Parable of Joy. In the Bible, and still today in the Middle East, you do not eat with someone unless you have a relationship with them. You don’t just eat with anyone. Eating with someone is declaring you have a relationship with them. That is why the Pharisees could not understand why Jesus ate with publicans and sinners. The publicans and sinners understood it, but the Pharisees did not. So the host puts Jesus on the spot. Psalm 23: Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies, means you make it possible for me to sit down with my enemies and reconcile our differences. Then Jesus tells the story of the Lost Sheep.

Luke 15:4-7 The Parable of the Lost Sheep Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, ‘This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them’.

And he spake this parable unto them, saying, “What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he finds it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, ‘Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.’ I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.”

In Luke 15:4–7, 99 sheep are safe and one is lost. The shepherd knows that one is in danger. After securing the 99, he goes after that one sheep until it is found. When he returns with the one sheep, he tells his friends and they rejoice. What was lost? A sheep. What was found? A sheep. What was the reaction? Joy. What he is saying to the men at the banquet is, “Do you not get it? If one person out there in the atrium changes his life, there is joy in heaven.” God does not want anyone to perish. There are no disposable people in God’s economy.

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Luke 15:8-10 The Parable of the Lost Coin “Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.’ Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.”

This is the same parable, but a different illustration. A woman has 10 silver coins and loses one coin in her house. These are the coins she gets at her wedding – a gift from her father. This is her ticket home if her husband beats or abuses her. This is the only money in ancient Judaism she did not have to give her husband until she felt secure in the marriage.

Only then would she surrender these coins to her husband. This is very important to her, but she loses one of these coins. The houses in the Galilee were made of basalt, which is a dark gray or black rock. The windows were small and natural lighting was difficult to come by. She searches until she finds the coin and calls her friends. What was lost? A coin. What was found? A coin. What was the reaction? Joy. Luke 15:11-32 The Parable of the Lost Son And he said, “A certain man had two sons: and the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.’ And he divided unto them his living.

And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father; I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.’ And he arose, and came to his father.

But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to be merry.

Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, ‘Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.’ And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and entreated him. And he answering said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.’ And he said unto him, ‘Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.’”

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This is the same parable, but a third illustration. Jesus was in Perea. On the other side of the river was the big Greco-Roman city of Scythopolis, with its theaters, hippodrome and coliseum. On this side of the river there was fun. The adults could relate to this story because they were seeing their children leave and go to a “distant country.” A young son basically says to his Dad, “I wish you were dead. I want my inheritance and I want it now. I want my portion of your estate.”

This request would have been an insult to the father. There were very strict guidelines that dealt with the property of a Jewish family. It was God’s plan that property remained within the family. These guidelines can be traced back over a thousand years to the time of Moses.

The larger portion of the estate generally would go to the eldest son. But this time, the younger son was asking, and the father gave it to him. This was totally out of character in ancient Judaism. Jesus was telling this parable to the Pharisees who knew the Jewish law front and back.

A backhand across the face of this young, brash and ungrateful son would have been a more common response to this request. The Pharisees were appalled that Jesus did not say that the father rebuked his son, but instead, the father gave his son what he asked. This required the family to go through the estate and determine what should go to the younger son and then liquidate the property for cash. When property was liquidated, he did not get the full value. In essence, the younger son had a yard sale. But he wanted his property and he wanted it now.

So the son gathered his possessions and went off to a “distant country”. The translation means to “a far away land” or a “far away philosophy”. The son did not need to travel far to find Gentile territory. In essence, he went to a Gentile land and it was party time – HBO, wild women and no kosher deli. The sins of the young son were many, like disrespecting his father, drunkenness and prostitution. The real sin, however, was not loose living, but not having a relationship with his father.

As long as the son had money, he had friends. However, he ran out of money at about the same time as a famine came across the land. At the same time, his so-called friends disappeared so he went to an acquaintance. The Bible says he went and joined himself to a citizen. He did not ask for a loan to help him get back on his feet, he essentially begged for help. He begged for help so much that this “citizen” relented and gave him a job feeding pigs.

This is the ultimate insult for a Jew. Eventually, the son got so hungry that he wanted to get right down with the pigs and eat what they were eating. The only clothes he had were the ones on his back. The only food was what was being eaten by the pigs. He had no shoes. He stunk.

His life had become meaningless.

The phrase when he came to himself from verse 17 is an interesting phrase. It means, “he came to his senses, he acknowledged his mistake.” Acknowledging your mistake is the first step to recovery. He realized that even his father’s hired servants had a better life than he did. Note: A hired servant is a day laborer who would hang out in the marketplace in hopes of getting a job for that day. These people were available for hard labor or menial tasks. They were not the same as the trusted servants on staff. These hired servants literally lived day-today and were paid at the end of every day. Jewish law had very strict guidelines on hired servants. You paid them at the end of each day because that was all they had to live on. The son was willing to go to his father and hoped to be hired as a hired servant because they ate better than he did.

So the son decided to go home. However, he knew that if he went home, there was a chance he might be stoned to death by the local villagers. This was the Middle East where 130

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pride and culture ran deep. The boy had shamed himself; shamed his father and mother; shamed his family; shamed his village; shamed his tribe. The boy did not have the right to walk back into town. Also, there was no guarantee that his father would even see him, let alone hire him. The second step to recovery is to take action. But he made the decision to go home and ask his father if he could be treated as a hired servant – a common day laborer.

We don’t know how long it took the son to walk home, but every step of the way he would have been thinking about how he had humiliated his father and wondering if his father would ever speak to him.

But while he was a great way off….his father ran to him. This is so amazing for several reasons. First, he was a man of wealth and privilege. He had servants. He had dignity. He had respect. And because of his position in the community, he would be wearing a long robe that closed at the bottom. Anything exposed above the ankle was viewed as nakedness in the Bible. The father pulled up his robe so that he could run, thus exposing himself and making himself Biblically naked. He ran to his son. Anyone who saw this would have been shocked at the father’s actions. Nobody was paying any attention to the dirty figure walking in the distance. All eyes were on the bizarre actions of the father.

Remember, this parable was being told to Pharisees. At the beginning of this story, they would have expected the father to slap the younger son. Now they would have expected the father to send a servant out to meet this disgraced figure. Certainly, the father would not have gone in person. But the father ran to his son and embraced him, even with all of the filth and odor.

In Luke 15:20, Jesus said, But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. There was so much love displayed by the father. His son was dirty and smelling of swine, but the father kept on kissing him. Kissing also means “much forgiveness.” The past was forgotten. The third step to recovery is confessing your sin. And the boy started his speech, “I have sinned…”, but the father kissed him and kept on kissing him. Then he turned to the servant and told them to bring the best robe. This was not just a clean robe, but a special robe like you would wear at a wedding. And bring a ring for his finger. This was not just a piece of jewelry, but a ring with a signature on it. This unique signature was reproduced when the ring was pressed into wax to seal a document. It was a ring with the seal of authority. And bring shoes for his feet. Servants went barefooted. It was sons of the wealthy who wore shoes. The father was saying to the community, my son is under my hospitality and you cannot touch him.

And the father told the servants to prepare the fatted calf to celebrate and eat. “For this son of mine was dead is now alive; he was lost and is found.” The real celebration was about a father who could love so much that he could forgive anything. The son did not deserve this. It is the father’s love that was celebrated. It was the love of a father who loved his son just as he was. You do not need to be cleaned up for God. He will clean you up spiritually.

The point of the story, however, was not the father’s love. It is a great message, but that was not what Jesus was talking about to the Pharisees in this parable. The point of the story was the older brother. He came in from the field to find a feast being prepared and was angry.

He was just as stuck on himself as his younger brother – it just came out later. The older brother refused to eat and celebrate with them. As a matter of fact, he said “this your son” instead of referring to him as his brother. This refusal to celebrate the return of his brother was an even greater insult than that of his younger brother. In addition to anger by the older son, he was selfish and also did not have a relationship with his father. The father forgave, but the elder son could not. He did not have any love in his heart.

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What was lost? A son. What was found? A son. The reaction by the older brother was not joy. The older brother was the same as the Pharisee in verse 2, This man (Jesus) welcomes sinners and eats with them. He did not get it, and neither do we. The message of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son is that when God brings someone to him, those who have known him the longest should shout for joy.

The Pharisees were angry and resentful that sinners were welcomed into God’s kingdom. How easy it is to resent God’s gracious forgiveness to others whom we consider far worse sinners than ourselves. When our self-righteousness gets in the way of rejoicing when others come to Jesus, we are no better than the Pharisee. God and all of heaven are ecstatic when a sinner repents. Why is it so easy for us to want to “judge” them for the magnitude or multitude of their sins? If God is big enough to forgive their sin, why are we so small that we cannot rejoice with them in their victory? The point of a parable is missed unless you tell the whole story. You could preach a good sermon on the lost sheep, but it was not what Jesus was talking about.

There is a Father who loves us so much that regardless of what we do, he is big enough to forgive and forget. We may not be able to understand a God who would forgive us if we came to him and asked for mercy. But a God who tenderly seeks each of us, one at a time, then joyfully forgives us, requires an extraordinary love. What is even more amazing is that he does it individually, one person at a time. Just as one sheep was so important to the shepherd, and one coin to the women, each of us is important enough for God to search for us. Each of us will have that one moment when he finds us that will be unique to each of us. There are many examples in the New Testament – Paul on the road to Damascus, the beggar Bartimaeus, the woman at the well, the woman at the feet of Jesus, are just a few. But it is one person at a time. All people are welcome.

In the beginning of this parable the younger son said, “Give me.” But when he came to himself and acknowledged that he had made mistakes and realized that even his father’s hired servants had a life better than he did, he went home to his father and said, “Make me a servant.” A servant in the father’s house was better off than any place else he could be. David wrote in Psalms 84:10, For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. All of his pride is gone. This was his road to recovery. This was the beginning of his repentance and he knew he needed his father. His repentance was his route back home.

What about the attitude of the older son? The older son had been obedient. He had stayed home and had worked his father’s fields. But he was furious when the younger son came home and the father showed him so much love, even after the younger son had wasted away all of his fortune and humiliated his father. His father did not love him anymore or any less. The older son could not understand this love by the father, just like we cannot understand how much our heavenly Father loves us. The older son did not understand “repentance” and the road home.

There should be joy in our lives, even in hard times. It should shine through us so much that it will make others want what we have.

Now here is a thought, and maybe a different twist on the lost son. For this twist we go to Jeremiah 31:20, “Is not [Israel] my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the Lord.

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From God’s view, what if the lost son is Israel? Or as Randy says in his simplified version of the Bible, Israel is the estranged wife of God and the church is the bride of Christ. In the end they will be restored and reunited.

Walking Through the Ruins of Scythopolis In Pompeii, in the Bay of Naples, in 79 AD Mount Vesuvius erupted and froze the city in time. This was less than two decades after Paul finished his mission trips. Some 95 percent of everything we know about the Roman Empire comes from this one city. The eruption literally froze the city in time. We can see the frescos on the wall and even read the “billboards” of who was going to be in the Coliseum. From that city, we discovered that the privies are multi-sex potties. But that may not have been true throughout all of the Roman Empire. In some parts of the Roman world it was inappropriate for women to use a public restroom at all.

The upper floor of the house, the domas, was called the gymnasium. It was only for women. Men did not go upstairs. The wife was the master of the domas. He did not have an office. Remember the house in Zippori? He did not have a downtown office. The triclinium was the public part of the house and the front porch was his office. People came to the house to conduct business. But if they wanted to make a deal, they went to a public bath.

There are four basic things every Roman pagan did that dramatically changed the way they saw God. First, they believed in ritual. Ritual means that they would come and communicate respect for their god. But most importantly, they had to do it correctly. The most important thing about prayer to a Roman was to get every word correct. In the background there would be music – a flute – so that the god would focus on your prayer.

Rituals were performed with exact instructions. Why would that be important? For hundreds of years, Romans took over the Gospel. Romans thought that one should stand in this exact spot when you light the fire, and say the exact words. The second part of Roman religious life was sacrifice. The Romans believed that the gods did not like the people and that, for the most part, they were working against them. To the Romans, gods were not good.

Poeple offered sacrifices to make them happy.

The Romans also had many gods for many experiences. In the bathroom, there was a shrine to Hygeia (god of bowls) outside the facility. Before entering, people said a prayer and offered a sacrifice. When people had problems with their stomachs, it was thought that it must be because the gods were messing with them, so they needed to offer a sacrifice. Romans were very superstitious. The third thing was vows and the mindset – you do this for me and I’ll do this for you. The fourth thing was celebratory praise. If one felt that their prayer had been answered, they sang as they left the bathroom.

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A public,, multi-sex x privy In the e public priv vies, there were plenty y of fragran nt plants an nd musician ns. We know w from P Pompeii tha at if one was not succe essful at the e privy, the re were ple enty of fig, p prune and o oil ssalesmen around a to se ell products s that would d “prime you ur pump”. Itt was consiidered a ne ecessary ffunction of life. l It was something s everybody e did, so theyy tried to m make it a nicce experience.

W What Wa as Relig gious Liffe Like to Roma ans?

It is important to o understan nd this religious life in order to un nderstand th he way Pau ul writes tto us. No pa art of our Christian exp perience is related to tthe bathroo om. But to a an early belliever like a Roma an, every pa art of their life l was rela ated to som me god working againsst them. Go oing b back furtherr in time, it would also make sens se to an RJJ. Have you u noticed ho ow much off the law d dealt with private expe eriences, things that we call bathrroom experriences?

God said a grea at deal in Le evitical Law w and in the e laws of De euteronomyy that we w would n now consider private. God G is invo olved in eve ery part of yyour life. To oday, we ha ave made e everything hygienic. h In n fact, we ha ave become very rem oved from all of the na atural proce esses of living and dying. We have becom me very sque eamish. We e are very d different fro om the persson in tthe Bible. They T don’t th hink like yo ou. They did d not have a problem ssitting next to someone in a e the same p public bathrroom carrying on a conversation. And they d did not have e privacy isssues in tthe same way w that we do.

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Byz zantine Ago ora or marrketplace, b basically a strip malll.

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In Palladius Street above, a drainage channel (sewer) runs beneath the basalt paved main street of the city. The center stones cover this channel. Excavations have revealed a remarkable city that incorporated all of the 'glory of Rome' and the best of Hellenistic culture. A typical Roman cardo (main commercial thoroughfare) connected the upper city with the forum, marketplace, Roman bathhouse and theater.

An important thing to remember about Scythopolis is that it was constantly growing from the time it was founded in about 250 BC until it’s destruction in an earthquake in 749 AD. That is 1,000 years of building and growth. There are things that we see today that were not there during the time of Jesus, but were built later. The philosophy and beliefs that built these things were the same several centuries after Jesus.

Randy’s mind is always working. His love of a pile of rocks and the Bible produces a constant flow of stories and side notes. We have just left the public potties, walked past a ritual shrine where he explained Roman religion and beliefs, and he commented on the Agora. We are standing at the intersection of Trade and Tryon if you were in Charlotte. In Scythopolis, it is known as Palladius Street and Silvanius Street. We are on our way to the Sigma – or Excedra – but before we get there, there are several things he wants us to see at this intersection.

There is a second century temple built in honor of Marcus Aurelius, a second century Nymphaeum and a central monument area.

There was a temple built to Marcus Aurelius (Randy’s favorite pagan Emperor).

Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus (April 26, 121 – March 17, 180) was emperor of Rome from 161 CE until his death in 180 CE. He was notable among Roman emperors as devoted to the study and practice of philosophy and to the wise administration of the empire. Marcus also served as a priest to the Roman state religion, yet generally accommodated the diverse religious practices that existed throughout the Roman world. The influence of the early Christian Church became widespread during his reign, although Marcus uncharacteristically permitted severe persecutions in some provinces.

While Marcus was young, Emperor Hadrian arranged his adoption by Antonius Pius so that he would be in the direct line of succession. He was a philosopher made Emperor. After becoming emperor, Marcus spent most of his reign in a protracted military campaign against the Germanic tribes to the north. Marcus was a temperate and just ruler who defended the Roman Empire against numerous threats on its borders. He was a good emperor because he lived his stoic values. He did not live a lavish life and felt his duty was to his people and the Roman Empire. He ate simply and dressed simply, things that other emperors did not do. He is considered the last of the Five Good Emperors. The decline of the Roman Empire is thought to have begun during the reign of his son Commodus. The movie Gladiators begins with this piece of history.

Marcus' writings were exercises for his own improvement rather than philosophical treatises. He was deeply influenced by the Stoic philosopher Epictetus. His Reflections and Meditations stress moral improvement, duty, ethical citizenship, philosophical detachment, and more generally, the place of man in the cosmic order. These works are valued as a literary expression of virtuous public life and civic duty. Life is not about having fun. Those were the Epicureans.

Early in 169 CE, Germanic tribes launched an invasion of Italy from the north. The Roman strategy was to drive the Germanic tribes out of Italy and back across the Danube.

This strategy was to isolate each tribe and defeat them one by one. The Romans were successful but the battles required time and resources. Two new legions were recruited and 136

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many new camps and fortresses had to be constructed. One by one, the tribes were defeated and brought under Rome’s dominion.

In 180 CE, while on campaign with Commodus in the north, Marcus became ill. He refused food or drink and died a few days later on March 17. Marcus had advised Commodus that one more year of warfare was necessary in order to attain complete victory and fully establish Roman dominion. Instead, Commodus chose to withdraw from the campaign – a decision which later proved to be disastrous to the Roman Empire. Marcus Aurelius' death is said by many historians to have been the end of the Pax Romana.

Marcus Aurelius’ reputation as an exemplary ruler has survived until present times, partly because of the Meditations, which testify to his integrity and personal devotion to duty.

The life he chose was one of self-sacrifice and public service, and much of his time as emperor was spent in military camps in an effort to establish the peace and security of the Roman Empire.

Nymphaeum Nymphs were not goddesses. They were demi-goddesses, sometimes called vestal virgins. We do not have demi-goddesses in Christianity unless you come from a liturgical church where they are called saints. They were helpers of the gods and goddesses. It comes from the Roman world, moves into the Christian world, and the saints are largely from the nymphs. They had the power to “stir-up” the natural world so wherever there was water there were nymphs.

Nymphaea also served as reservoirs and assembly chambers for weddings. The name, originally denoting a natural grotto with springs, later referred to an artificial grotto or building filled with plants, sculptures, fountains and paintings. Nymphaea existed at Corinth, Antioch, Ephesus and Constantinople. Remains have also been found in Rome, Asia Minor, Syria and northern Africa.

Then there was the central monument area where there were statues to the Emperor and to various gods/goddesses that were worshipped– in this case, Bacchus, the god of wine.

They were big drinkers, a fact that is evident by the many public potties all over the city. They also had standing stones that would tell the story of the gods and Greek and Roman heroes.

The conundrum with archaeology is when to stop digging and appreciate what has been found. Every layer is distinct. On this site, we know there is more to find below, but to get to that site you must destroy what you have now. When is good enough, good enough?

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The sem mi-circular Byzantine B Ex xcedra or Sig gma

In a downtown d area a where e there are thousands t of people, a city can b become a vvery e enclosed arrea. Here is s the strip mall m area – the agora. The planne ers looked ffor a way to o extend M Main Streett without ma aking it any y longer. Th hey develop ped a semi--circular are ea called th he S Sigma, or Excedra.

E Ex xcedra mea ans “to take the pressu ure off”. Exttending the street with a semiccircle took the t pressure off of the downtown area.

Notic ce the smalll openings that were once o the sh hops. Shopping in the Middle Easst is e exactly the opposite as s it is in the e west. In th he Middle E East, the shopping is a all about the e p person. In the old city of Jerusale em, when yo ou try to bu uy somethin ng, a traditio onal shopke eeper w will come ou ut to talk to you. He will ask abou ut your famiily, your job b and you w will have tea a. When yyou talk, you will meet his motherr and his grrandmotherr. After awh hile, he will ask, “What do you n need?” You u may say, “I “ need a co omb and a pair of sandals.” He w will say, “I have that.” T Then he w will go to the back of th he store and return witth what you u need. It’s important tto note thatt you d don’t pick th he goods. His H relations ship with yo ou will dete rmine whatt you will ge et. You can nnot go lo ook. He is saying, s “I have what you y want. Trust me!”

In the e west, it is s all about selling s stuff.. And you ccan never ffind anybod dy to help yyou to b buy that stu uff. In the Middle M East, it is all abo out the relattionship. In the ancien nt world, the e porch w where the te ea and cofffee were se erved was more m imporrtant than th he store itse elf. You bou ught ffrom a person and you u bought fro om a relatio onship. In a negotiated d relationship, when yo ou rrefuse to ha ave a relatio onship, the other perso on does no ot know wha at to do. “So what do yyou m mean you don’t d want to meet me? ? You just want w to buyy my stuff?””

T The Rom man Empire – United Un nder On ne Flag How did the Roman Empirre keep the allegiance of citizens under one flag when many la w spoke en and there e were man ny religionss? They dup plicated the e cities. In the U.S. anguages were p pretty much h every city has a McD Donalds, Bu urger King, Home Dep pot and Pizzza Hut. Tha at is a vvery old ide ea. The Rom mans wante ed to duplic cate a city, a polis, whe erever you went. Therre was 138

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always going to be a theater, a hippodrome, bathhouses and privies. To civilize is to citify. It made people feel comfortable to be a Roman.

Also remember everything about Roman life was to experience pompus – processions or parades. Roman life was a spectacle. What does it mean to be Roman? It means to go to parades. The parade is the Roman experience. Why is that important? Paul wrote a three-part letter to the Ephesians. Chapters 1, 2, and 3 were your call as a believer. “Out of darkness into light; from a stranger to a citizen; now you’re part of what you never were.” Chapter 4:1 to 6:9 is the conduct of a believer – call of a believer; conduct of a believer. And five times you will see the word walk – “walk in light; walk in knowledge”, etc. Five times he will say how to walk.

Then from 6:10 – 6:20 the conflict of a believer – put on armor. But in the conduct section 4:8, Paul talks about Jesus leaving captivity and giving gifts to me. “Wherefore he saith, ‘When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.’”

This is the image of a returning army on a successful campaign. A returning army parade began with the memory of the event being commemorated. Next there would be a large group of captives and a model of the place that had been conquered. Behind came the spoils of the victory, some of them freely tossed out to the crowd, including jewelry and beads.

Behind them came the camp trailers recognizing the men who fought. The shields on the outside honored the men who had died. Behind them came the enemy commander, dressed in black and chained to the last trailer. Behind him were the children and tutors of the fallen system. The parade was designed to say, “We did not defeat a city but a whole system of government. We are Romans and they are not.”

When Paul writes in Ephesians 4, he assumes you have been to one of the parades.

I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

Through these verses you hear the message – unity, unity, unity. Each of us was given a gift in measure of Christ’s gift, and wherefore he saith, ‘When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.’ Or he tossed gifts to men.(Now that he ascended what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”

Jesus is the great commander who came and gave gifts. These are people gifts. He takes these people and molds them, then gives them to the church. These people are who they are. God has been throwing gifts out to these people and the church. It is the story of a procession, a parade. He is doing something that the Romans would understand. And it is all based on unity, unity and unity.

You did not get a gift for you. Your gift is to reach and strengthen the body. The church on Sardis Road is not for the community. The church in Charlotte is a tool to reach the community. God’s heart is for the lost, the community. You are the tool to reach them.

Sometimes we are so transfixed on worshipping in the church that we forget what it is for. God “

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g gave the gifft to impact the whole, and the wh hole to imp pact the com mmunity. Pa aul displaye ed it tthrough a parade.

Paul took a quo ote from Psa alms, 68:18 8 and put it in Roman terms. 18Th hou hast asscended o on high, tho ou hast led captivity ca aptive: thou u hast receivved gifts fo or men; yea, for the reb bellious a also, that th he LORD God G might dwell among g them.” Pa aul has a He ebrew hearrt with an an ncient H Hebrew sou ul and a mo odern Roma an audience e. Paul’s ch harge was tto take the truths and p principles God G had tau ught the children of Isrrael through h the ages a and put the em in the Greek a and Roman n language in a world that t did not understand d it. Your e ethics has to o be transla ated into a different la anguage.

T The Rom man Baths The Roman batths were a series s of co old, medium m and hot p pools and stteam roomss. There w were also areas a for dre essing, exe ercise and massages. m This was th he place to be. Busine ess was cconducted here. h Gossip was spre ead here. Fitness F was performed d here.

h From April A through October, the temperrature ranges from In miid-November it is still hot. h hot to very hot h to unbe earably hot! Scythopolis at the tim me of Jesuss and several centurie es later m may have enjoyed e a more m temperate climate e due to the e many tree es that were e present b before tthe Ottoman n Empire. However, H we w don’t kno ow for sure.. Either wayy, you are n never far fro om the d desert. Tree es or no tre ees it would have been n smoking h hot. Think T Texas in July.

This photograph h above is the t floor of a hot room m. The colum mns below supported a floor.

T There was also a a furna ace where they t burned d wood. Wa ater was po oured onto the hot surrfaces to p produce ste eam, so this s was a sau una.

So what w does a Roman ste eam room have h to do with Christtianity and tthe Bible? M Most of tthe men wh ho frequente ed the bath hhouses we ere wealthy.. Their servvants would d have help ped tthem get ou ut of their olld clothes (pre-workou ut) and be o on the other side with ttheir new cclothes ((post-worko out, hot room m). Colossiian 3:9-10 is i Paul usin ng common n Roman ba athhouse im magery. ““…seeing th hat ye have e put off the e old man with w his dee eds; And ha ave put on tthe new ma an, w which is ren newed in kn nowledge after a the ima age of him tthat created d him.”

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There were many gods in Greek and Roman worship. It was a polytheistic world to them. Roman religion had no Bible, no orthodox texts that told you what your gods thought.

They only had professional priests called augurs who would foretell future events, and oracles – priests or priestesses who spoke for a certain deity.

The idea of “God breathed” is a term that comes from an oracle. The image of a spirit overcoming you and cause you to deliver truth.

Romans had no life after death expectation. Life after death comes from Egyptian worship, not Roman. Isis was the Egyptian god of resurrection. Instead, fate determined your life and death. They were basically fatalistic people. You were going to die at a specific point and there was nothing you could do about it.

The Roman mainstream “worship” was based on many Roman and Greek gods. It was also based on pacifying or appeasing the gods. The Romans taught diction in schools so that people could pray properly in public. They believed that if you could not pronounce the words properly, the gods would not hear your prayers.

Paul is constantly preaching and writing in Corinthians, Ephesians, Galatians, Colossians and Thessalonians that God is good, God is good? Why? The Romans grew up believing that their gods were against them or hostile toward them. The Roman gods were always messing with the humans. Roman worship was a constant process of propitiating the gods. Now Paul comes along and is teaching about one God, a good God and a God who loves them. It is a 180-degree turnaround from how they grew up thinking about gods. Paul spoke about a God that said, “I’m not like the gods you grew up with. I am different.” The God Paul talked about was good, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, and offered life after death.

The Roman Christians had a lot to learn.

The Traditions of the Roman Church Randy was asked a question concerning the traditions of the Roman Church and when it started. This was Randy’s “standing on one foot” answer: In the Mass, the words of the Gospel are there. The problem isn’t the word. The problem is they are latent down. In a Catholic Church, you get all spiritual truth from reason, experience, tradition and revelation.

From a Protestant background, we come at the Word and say revelation trumps everything.

Whatever the Bible says, that is how we live our life. The Bible is where we get our rules. For the Roman Church, it is the Bible plus the traditions. So, let me tell you about that tradition.

When you say Rome, you are talking about 1,000 years of history – from 500 BC to 500 AD. For the first 500 years, Rome is a republic. The second 500 years it is an empire. In the second 500 years, the quality of the leadership from the emperors continually deteriorates until it all collapses. Christianity comes to Rome in the 300s. In the 320s, Constantine goes to battle against his half brother and, as a result, Christianity becomes the religion of the empire.

It was an interesting period from 100 – 350. In the 100s and 200s, you could be persecuted for being a Christian. By the year 350, however, you could be persecuted for not being one. In a period of only 100 years, the polytheistic pagan culture was transformed into a monotheistic forced Christianity. The emperor, the highest figure and the holy father of all the pagan religions, now became the holy father of the church even before the Catholic Church existed. So Constantine, a relatively new believer if he was a believer at all, was forced to be the head of the church. He does not even know what the Bible is.

So when did the church start? The early church was largely a messianic movement that grew into an even larger Gentile movement that became a religious/legal church in the fourth 141

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century that suddenly starts to take on all the legal and judicial responsibilities of the Roman Empire. When Rome collapses in 476, the only one left to clean up the mess is the Roman Church. And for about the next 1,000 years you are given the position of a priest regardless of whether you have a personal profession of faith in Christ or not. That was not the point. The point was that somebody was needed to do the job. So, since you are the official person, you learn to say the prayer properly and pronounce the words well. It has nothing to do with “is this what you believe.”

Now fast-forward 1,500 years. You have a large church that has its own tax system, property, roads and government. However, it does not know how to help people. There is a big difference between the house of a bishop and the common man. In other words, they have become politicians on the take. Right about this time Julius becomes Pope. He says it is about time we put this place on the map and he starts to build the St. Peters Cathedral we know today. Meanwhile, a priest in Germany by the name of Martin Luther, says, “Wait a minute.

This isn’t right. We are going in the wrong direction. We are now selling indulgences so people can buy their way into heaven just so we can have a larger church?”

So you begin to see a course correction. It is not the church that saves you. It is Jesus that saves you, by grace through faith. The church grew into the role very naturally. Demigods became saints. The fertility goddess became the Holy Mother. There were all these things that happened as a result of history. It doesn’t mean they have no truth to them.

Here is my sadness. Mary was an incredible young lady. Many of our churches are afraid to say that. God chose her. If she was good enough for God, she should be good enough for us.

Jericho Old Testament Jericho, tel es Sultan We are now in the West Bank. However, to call it a “bank” is a misnomer. It is 30 miles wide and covers an area one-third the size of Israel. The people were given self-determination on the way to becoming a state, but negotiations broke down. What we have today is an area of separate rule surrounded by Israel. The roads are administrated by Israel, but the people are governed by a Palestinian government and have their own police force. They also have a separate flag. We will go into two areas in this Palestinian controlled territory – Jericho and Bethlehem. You are essentially crossing a border. Today, Jericho is a big spice-growing area with exports to Italy and other areas.

We are also entering the upper area of the desert. There is a change in the greenery and the geology. Things are brown and will stay brown as you go south. The landscape has transformed from lush and green to dry and brown in less than 30 miles. This is the area where you could go up the hill to our west, and see an Iron Age farm. From there, you could see where Elijah came down the hill past Elisha, and Elisha will sacrifice his oxen, break his yokes and burn his bridges behind him (2 Kings). The mountain to the west of Jericho is called Temptation Mountain. Many think this was the area where Jesus spent 40 days in the desert and was tempted by Satan. There are several Greek monasteries that have been in those hills since the third and fourth centuries.

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A two-yearr old female pack p camel c costs about $7,500.

The double-join nted camel is very well designed ffor life in th his area and d environme ent.

C Camel hair has a distin nct aroma. It is very distinct when n wet. Now who in the Bible wore e camel sskin and ba aptized? Think about itt.

Arab b society is not at all lik ke western society. In the Arab cu ulture, you never wantt to lose fface. You never, ever put yoursellf in a positiion where yyou could lo ose face. It is a shame e-based cculture. In a Middle Ea astern socie ety, people cannot justt ask you fo or somethin ng, even if tthey n need it. You u do not ask direct que estions. So you have tto ask a diffferent quesstion that bo oth of yyou will und derstand is that questio on. For exa ample, when Randy livved in Jericho, he had an e elderly neig ghbor who ran r out of firewood durring the win nter. He cou uld not ask for help an nd R Randy could not give him h wood even e though h he had plenty. To ovvercome the e situation, Randy ttold his neig ghbor that he h was goin ng to make a garden in n the spring g. The woo od was on th he land w where he wanted w to make the garden. He sa aid, “If you w will help me e move the e wood, you u can h have half off it.�

Anotther differen nce is that in the Arab culture it iss about hosspitality, nott honor.

N Negotiation is a way off life. Their language is different a and their va alue system m is totally d different tthan ours.

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Therre is an old Jericho tha at is differen nt from the new Jerich ho. Why? Because Go od said it sshould neve er be rebuilt. We stood d on “tel es Sultan” – tthe Old Tesstament Jerricho. Below w this ttel is the ne ew Jericho. Jericho is an a oasis. Under the re ed roof build ding in the ccenter of th he p photograph above is th he largest spring s in Isrrael (2 King gs 1 and 2).. Now you kknow why tthis d desert comm munity is grreen.

Everrybody know ws the story y of the walls of Jerich ho falling do own. But there are two o very interesting stories s about passing the baton of o leadershiip from Mosses to Josh hua and from Elijah tto Elisha an nd that also happened here at Jericho. Raha ab and Barttimaeus are e also part of JJericho’s pa ast.

Why is there a New N Testam ment Jerich ho when Go od said to n never rebuilld this city? ? There a are actually y five cities of Jericho, but they we ere not buillt on the same site as the Old Testament JJericho.

In the e 8th centu ury BCE, the e Assyrians s invaded frrom the norrth, followed by the B Babylonians s. Jericho was w depopu ulated betw ween 586 an nd 538 BCE E, the perio od of the Je ewish e exile to Bab bylon. The Persian P king Cyrus the e Great re-ffounded the e city one m mile southeast of itts historic site s at the mound m of Te el es-Sultan n and return ned the Jew wish exiles after conqu uering B Babylon in 539 5 BCE. Why was Moses not allowe ed to go intto the Prom mised Land? ? There wa as a water p problem.

R Randy told us that gettting water out o of rock is not difficu ult if you kn now where to look and d what tto look for. When W wate er flows from m a rock it will w leave ca alcium deposits. In tim me, those ca alcium 144

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deposits will plug up the hole. Knocking the deposits off the hole will start the water flowing again. Moses was told to gather the people, “speak” to the rock and let God take care of the rest. Moses disobeyed God and struck the rock with his staff. Since he disobeyed God, he and Aaron were not allowed to enter the Promised Land. God is always way ahead of us preparing to answer prayers and problems we don’t even know we have.

We read in Numbers 20:8–13 Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink.

So Moses took the rod from before the LORD, just as He had commanded him; and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, ‘Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?’ Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank. But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.’ Those were the waters of Meribah, because the sons of Israel contended with the LORD, and He proved Himself holy among them.”

Joshua 4:23-24 – The Jordan River Jericho is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, with evidence of settlement dating back to 9000 BCE. The first permanent settlement was built near the spring between 10000 and 9000 BCE. In biblical times, rivers were natural barriers as well as an item to worship by the pagan cultures, like the Nile in Egypt. The Jordan River, though smaller than the Nile, was no different. It was worshipped by the Canaanites who lived in the Promised Land. The Jordan River is located in a deep cut in the earth below sea level known as the Rift Valley. The Jordan River originated from the melting snow on Mount Hermon, 9,200 feet above sea level. From the base of Mount Hermon to the northern edge of the Sea of Galilee is about 25 miles. From the south edge of the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea is about 65 miles. The river descends all the way to the Dead Sea. The name Jordan means “to descend.” The river is never wide. The Jordan River is usually never wider than 50 to 75 feet, but during the spring harvest season, its banks often overflow. If you were to step off the bank into the swollen river, the water would be over your head. This passage is about an event during the harvest season.

For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. He did this so that all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God. The Israelites are on the east side of the Jordan River, in modern day Jordan, looking to the Promised Land in the west. The year is about BC 1406. The Israelites have spent 40 years in the Wilderness after being delivered from Egypt. Forty years earlier, God had navigated them through a large body of water. Why were they now afraid to trust God to cross a small body of water when he made it possible to cross a large body of water?

God brought the Israelites to this place and time, on the east side of the river (in Jordan), west of Jericho, to demonstrate his power – parting the water so that an entire nation could enter into the Promised Land. On the west side of the river was the pagan Canaanite 145

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who worshipped Baal, the god of the river. The Israelites thought the river was swollen because of the power of the Canaanite god of the river. In chapter 3:13, God told the Levites to take the Arc to other side of the river. Imagine being the lead Levite carrying the Arc and it is you who must step into the swollen river first! Could you do it? Notice that God did not dry the river up before the sole of the first bearer of the arc touched the river. You must trust God. It requires trust and making a commitment to God. It does not mean we will not encounter barriers. God is capable of removing barriers if we will trust and totally commit to him. The key to living by faith is how we respond to those barriers. God will clear the way when you take a step of faith – totally and not partially. The first step is always the hardest.

Once on the other side, God told them to pick 12 stones out of the River Jordan (one stone for each tribe) and stack them on the west side. This standing stone memorial would be a constant reminder of the day the Israelites crossed the Jordan River on dry ground. The “standing stones” would be a testament to God’s power.

Joshua 5 And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, which were on the side of Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we were passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them anymore, because of the children of Israel.

At that time the LORD said unto Joshua, ‘Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.’ And Joshua made him sharp knives, and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the foreskins. And this is the cause why Joshua did circumcise: All the people that came out of Egypt, that were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness by the way, after they came out of Egypt. Now all the people that came out were circumcised: but all the people that were born in the wilderness by the way as they came forth out of Egypt, them they had not circumcised.

The Israelites had crossed into the Promised Land and God told them to circumcise all the males. We know that for the next several weeks the men are not going to be doing much while they heal.

Joshua 6 – Jericho Like the Jordan River, the city of Jericho, which was built near the river and along a main trade route, was also below sea level. In fact, the city is about 1,000 feet below sea level.

Jericho is an old city, over 8,000 years old. The walls of the city were tall and wide for defense.

But the city was accursed. Joshua 6:17, And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the Lord. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers we sent.

The word “accursed” means “devoted”. The city and everything in it was devoted to or set aside for the Lord. When we see the word “Corban” in the Bible, remember that it means dedicated to the Lord. Do not build on this site. When the wall of Jericho fell, the Israelites were commanded to kill all the inhabitants except Rahab and her family, and to take nothing except the gold, silver and vessels of brass and iron and add them to the treasury. God also said the city was not to be rebuilt. The ruins of the city were to be set aside for, or devoted to God. The ruins of the city were to be a reminder and a testimony to the greatness of God. In time, King Ahab allowed the city to be rebuilt.

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The Bible says ‘Rahab the e prostitute’, but that m may have no ot been the e meaning. T Think a about who worked w on the translattion. Rahab b was actua ally an innke eeper – one who take es in at n night. In tha at day and time, t the prrofession off prostitute or the profe ession of an n innkeepe er, was n not an hono orable way of life, thus s the negative image. S So Rahab m may not ha ave been a p prostitute, but b an innke eeper. It do oes not chan nge the sto ory, but it do oes make yyou think ab bout the ttranslation.

Before the Israe elites entere ed the Prom mised Land d, Moses told them tha at they were e about tto cross the e Jordan Riv ver to dispo ossess nations greater and stronger than themselves, with la arge cities having walls that reac ched, as it were, w to the e sky (Deute eronomy 9::1). The me eticulous w work of Ken nyon showe ed that Jeric cho was ind deed heavily fortified a and that it h had been burned b by fire. Unfo ortunately, she misdatted her finds, resulting g in what se eemed to be e a discrepa ancy b between the e discoverie es of archa aeology and d the Bible. Her conclu usion was th hat the Bronze A Age Jericho o was destrroyed by the e Egyptians s about 155 50 BC. An iin-depth an nalysis of th he e evidence, however, h reveals that the t destructtion took place around d 1400 BC – the end o of the L Late Bronze e I period, exactly e whe en the Bible e says the cconquest occcurred.

Therre have bee en several major m digs at a Jericho. The first exxcavation w was in 1868 8. Others ffollowed in 1907–1911 1, 1926–193 36 and 195 52–1961. Th he last majo or dig at this site was 50 yyears ago. When W you read r about Jericho, re emember th hat there are ew e new ideas, but no ne e excavations s. Every sin ngle dig con ncentrated on o the wall.. This is not an Israelitte site. It is a preIsraelite site e – a Canaa anite site. No N one care ed about ho ow the Can naanites live ed.

The moun nd or ‘tel’ off Jericho wa as surround ded by a grea at earthen rrampart, orr embankment, with a stone retain ning wall at its base. Th he retaining g wall was some four to o five mete rs high. On n top of thatt was a two o-meter thick mud m brick w wall about e eight meterrs high. At tthe crest of the e embankm ent was a ssimilar mud d brick wall whose base was roughlly 14 meterrs above th he ground le evel outsid de the retai ning wall. T This is whatt loomed high above e the Israelites as theyy marched around the city each day for sevven days. F From a hum man perspecctive, it d be imposssible for the e Israelites to penetratte the would impre egnable basstion of Jeriicho.

S Schematic crross-section diagram of the t ffortification system s at Jericho based on The area within the u upper wall w was approxximately K Kenyon's we est trench. six ac cres, while tthe total are ea of the up pper city an nd fortific cation syste em was abo out nine acres. Based on the a archaeologiist’s rule of thumb of 200 2 persons s per acre, the population of the upper city w would h have been about a 1,200 0. Howeverr, from exca avations ca arried out byy a German n team in th he first d decade of th his century, we know that t people e were also living on th he embankm ment betwe een the u upper and lower city walls. w In add dition, Cana aanites livin ng in the surrounding vvillages wou uld h have fled to o Jericho for safety. Th hus, we can n safely asssume that th here would have been n sseveral thou usand peop ple inside th he walls wh hen the Isra aelites came e against th he city.

The citizens of Jericho J werre well prep pared for a siege. A sp pring, which h provided water ffor ancient as a well as modern m Jerricho was lo ocated insid de the city w walls. At the e time of th he a attack, the harvest h had d just been taken in (Joshua 3:15 5), so the ciitizens also o had an abundant ssupply of fo ood. This ha as been borrne out by many m large jars of grain found in the Canaanite h homes by John J Garsta ang in his 1930s excav vation, and also by Ke enyon. With h a plentiful food 147

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ssupply and ample wate er, the inha abitants of Jericho J cou ld have helld out for pe erhaps sevveral yyears.

Afterr the seventth trip around the city on the seve enth day, S Scripture tellls us that th he wall ““fell down fllat” (Joshua a 6:20). The e Hebrew here h carriess the suggestion that itt ‘fell benea ath ittself.’ Is there evidenc ce for such an event at a Jericho? It turns outt that there is ample evvidence tthat the mud brick city wall collap psed and wa as deposite ed at the ba ase of the sstone retaining wall a at the time the t city met its end.

Keny yon’s work was w the mo ost detailed d. On the we est side of the tel, at th he base of the rretaining wa all, she foun nd ‘fallen re ed bricks piiling nearly to the top o of the revettment. Thesse p probably ca ame from th he wall on th he summit of the bankk [and/or] … the brickw work above e the rrevetment.’

In oth her words, she found a heap of bricks b from the fallen ccity walls! A An Italian team e excavating at the southern end off the mound d in 1997 fo ound exactly the same e thing.

Below w is an artist's reconsttruction of the t north side of ancie ent Jericho based on the G German exc cavations of o 1907–190 09. Note the houses b built againstt the mud b brick city wa all, w which rests on top of th he stone re etaining walll. The Bible e says that Rahab's ho ouse was b built a against the city wall (Joshua 2:15 5).

Acco ording to the e Bible, Rahab’s hous se was inco orporated in n the fortifica ation system ((Joshua 2:1 15). If the walls w fell, ho ow was her h house spare ed? As you u recall, the spies had instructed Rahab R to brring her fam mily into herr h house wherre they wou uld be rescu ued. When tthe Israelite es stormed the city, Ra ahab and h her family were w saved as promise ed (Joshua 2 2:12–21; 6:17, 22–23). At the norrth end of tthe tel of Je ericho, archaeologists made some e a astounding discoveries s that seem m to relate to o R Rahab.

The German ex xcavation off 1907–190 09 ffound that on o the north h, a short sttretch of the e lo ower city wall w did not fall f as everrywhere e else. A porttion of that mud brick wall w was still sstanding to a height off over two meters. m Wha at iss more, the ere were ho ouses built against a the w wall! It is qu uite possible e that this is s where R Rahab’s house was. Since S the citty wall fformed the back wall of o the house es, the spie es ccould have readily esc caped. From m this lo ocation on the north side s of the city c it was o only a shortt distance to o the hills of o the JJudean wild derness where the spie es hid for tthree days (Joshua ( 2:1 16, 22).

Real estate valu ues must ha ave been lo ow here, sin nce the hou uses were p positioned o on the e embankmen nt between the upper and lower city c walls. N Not the besst place to liive in a time e of w war! This arrea was no doubt the overflow o fro om the upp per city and the poor pa art of town,, p perhaps eve en a slum district. d 148

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Afterr the city wa alls fell, how w did the Israelites surrmount the four- to five e-meter hig gh rretaining wa all at the ba ase of the te el? Excavattions have shown thatt the bricks from the co ollapsed w walls formed a ramp against the retaining r wa all so that tthe Israelite es could me erely climb up over tthe top. The e Bible is ve ery precise in its descrription of ho ow the Israe elites enterred the city:: “the p people wen nt up into the city, everry man straiight before him [i.e., sstraight up a and over]” ((Joshua 6 6:20). The Israelites ha ad to go up p, and that is what arch haeology ha as revealed d. They had d to go ffrom ground d level at th he base of the t tel to the e top of the e rampart in n order to e enter the cityy.

The Israelites burned the city c and eve erything in iit (Joshua 6 6:24). Once e again, the e d discoveries of archaeo ology have verified the e truth of thiis record. A portion of the city desstroyed b by the Israe elites was excavated e on o the east side of the tel. Wherever the archaeologistss rreached this s level, they y found a one o meter th hick layer o of burned assh and deb bris. Kenyon n d described th he massive e devastatio on as follow ws.

The destruction n was comp plete. Walls and floors were blackkened or reddened by fire, a and every room r was fiilled with falllen bricks, timbers, an nd househo old utensils;; in most ro ooms tthe fallen de ebris was heavily h burn nt, but the collapse c of tthe walls off the easterrn rooms se eems to h have taken place before they werre affected by the fire. a Kenyon found ma any storage e jars full of grain that h had been ccaught in Both Garstang and tthe fiery des struction. This T is a unique find in the annals of archaeo ology. Grain n was valua able, not o only as a so ource of foo od, but also o as a comm modity that could be ba artered. Un nder normal ccircumstanc ces, such valuables v would have been b plund ered by the e conquerors. Why wa as the g grain left at Jericho? The T Bible prrovides the answer. Jo oshua comm manded the e Israelites that the ccity and all that t is in it were w to be dedicated to the Lord (Joshua 6:17).

The grain left att Jericho an nd found by y archaeolo ogists in mo odern time g gives graph hic ttestimony to o the obedience of the e Israelites nearly three e-and-a-ha alf millennia ago. Only Achan d disobeyed, leading to the t debacle e at Ai desc cribed in Jo oshua 7.

Such h a large qu uantity of grrain left unto ouched givves silent te estimony to the truth off yet a another asp pect of the biblical b account. A hea avily fortifie ed city with a an abundan nt supply of food a and water would w normally take many m months, eve en years, to o subdue. The T B Bible says that t Jericho o fell after only o sseven days. The jars found f in the e ruins o of Jericho were w full, sh howing that the ssiege was very v short. Very V little of o the g grain had been consum med. cho was onc ce thought to be Jeric a ‘problem’ because off the seemiing d disagreeme ent between n archaeolo ogy a and the Bible. When th he archaeology is ccorrectly intterpreted, however, h jus st the o opposite is the case. The T a archaeologiical evidenc ce supports s the h historical ac ccuracy of the t biblical a account in every e detaill. Every asp pect of tthe story tha at could possibly be ve erified b by the findin ngs of archaeology is, in ffact, verified d.

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Therre are many y ideas as to t how the walls w of Jerricho came down. Both h Garstang g and K Kenyon found evidenc ce of earthq quake activity at the tim me the city met its end d. If God did d use an e earthquake to accomp plish His purrposes thatt day, it wass still a mira acle since it happened d at p precisely the right mom ment, and was w manifes sted in such a way as to protect Rahab’s ho ouse.

N No matter what w agency God used d, it was ultimately He who, throu ugh the faith h of the Isra aelites, b brought the walls down n. After the people had d marched around the em for seve en days, it w was “by ffaith the wa alls of Jerich ho fell down n” (Hebrews s 11:30).

As well w as show wing us how w vital it is not n to disco ount the Bib ble because e of some a apparent cconflict with h secular sc cholarship, Jericho is a wonderfull spiritual le esson for God’s people e today.

T There are tiimes when we find ourrselves facing enormo ous “walls” tthat are imp possible to break d down by hu uman streng gth. If we pu ut our faith in God and d follow Hiss commandments, He will p perform “gre eat and mig ghty things”” (Jeremiah h 33:3) and give us the e victory.

The circ cular section n is a tower tthat dates back to 7 7000 BCE, so ome 5,000 ye ears before A Abraham.

H Herod d the Great’s G s Pala ace at Jerich ho N New Tes stament Jericho o Therre is not mu uch left of New N Testam ment Jericho o, but there e is a little. IIt is an old d dig from tthe 1960s th hrough the 1980s conducted by Dr. D Ehud N Netzer, who recently died at the H Herodion. Not N many to ours come here h now, but b since th here was a d diagram in our workbo ooks, w we decided to visit, giv ven that we e were in the e neighborh hood! Rand dy says tha at Dr. Netze er was tthe single best b authority on Herod d the Greatt.

The hill in n the center does not loo ok like much h. The greene ery in the vallley is over th he location o of the swim mming pool..

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Hero od's first pallace was situated on the southern n bank of W Wadi Qelt (W Wadi is an Arabic tterm meaning “dry rive er bed�. It was w built in the t region tthat Herod leased from m Cleopatra a, Q Queen of Egypt, who had h receive ed it as a gift from Marrcus Antonius in 36 BC CE. The H Hasmonean n palace no orth of the wadi w remain ned in use d during this period. This first palacce was a rectangula ar 283 feet x 150 feet with distinc ctly Roman architecturral featuress. It was forttified a and had a single s entra ance. At its center was s a large pe eristyle courrtyard surro ounded by rrooms o on three sid des. To the west of the e courtyard was a large e guest halll with rowss of columnss along tthree sides,, open to th he courtyard d on the fou urth. An ela aborate bath hhouse in R Roman style e, with ssix rooms, was w one of the innovations introd duced by He erod. At the e center wa as the calda arium ((hot room), heated by a hypocaus st (the floorr raised on rows of cerramic supports, creatin ng a sspace unde er the floor through t which hot air was w forced , heating th he floor and d thus, the e entire rroom). The floors of the bathing rooms were e paved with h mosaics iin colored, geometric p patterns.

This was high class c Roman architectu ure. Herod wanted you to know tthat he wass first a and foremost Roman. He wanted d everyone to come he ere. He did not want to o be on the b backwash of o the empirre. He did a magnifice ent job of bu uilding the sstuff to get people to ccome.

od's second d palace wa as built north of Wadi Q Qelt, east o of the Hasm monean pala ace and Hero o on parts of it, after the destruction n of the firstt palace byy earthquakke in 31 BCE. The twin n sswimming pools p of the e Hasmonea an palace were w joined d into a sing gle large (10 04 feet x 59 9 feet) o one that wa as surround ded by gardens. Trees and shrubss were plan nted in clayy pots set in nto the g ground. Many of them were found d in their orriginal posittion. The pa alace had a an unobstru ucted vview of the surrounding scenery; it was divid ded into two o wings, the e northern b built on a te errace 1 16 feet high her than the e southern, connected by a broad d staircase.

At the center off the northern wing was a courtya ard (111 fee et x 91 feet)), surrounde ed by a rrow of colum mns on all four f sides. Atypically, A the center o of the courttyard was rraised abovve the 151

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le evel of the surrounding porticos. The purpos se of this a architectural innovation n eludes uss.

L Located at the t center of o a row of rooms soutth of the co ourtyard wa as a grand ttriclinium, d decorated with w frescos s. East and north of the e courtyard d were rowss of rooms, probably g guest rrooms.

The southern wing w of the palace p inclu uded installa ations for th he use and d pleasure o of the ccourt and its s guests: a pool surrou unded by a row of colu umns and a courtyard d; a large ha all o opening tow wards the pool via a ro ow of colum mn on its faççade; and a splendid b bathhouse, its rrooms pave ed with mos saics and its s walls dec corated with h frescos. T The hypocaust in the ed by rowss of small sttone ccaldarium was w built in an unusual way with its upper flo oor supporte ccolumns ins stead of the e usual fired d bricks.

Hero od's third pa alace – the largest – was w constructed on botth sides of Wadi Qelt a and ccovered an area of ove er seven ac cres, with a bridge ove er the wadi connecting g its two win ngs.

S Some of the e walls of th his palace were w made of a core o of concrete,, with stone e facings – ssmall rrectangular or square stones – se et into the concrete. c Since this co onstruction technique, though w widely used d in Rome, was w extrem mely rare els sewhere, itt is the opin nion of the e excavator th hat King H Herod had hired h a team m of Roman artisans. Herod wan nted everyo one to know w he was on n the ccutting edge e of everyth hing new an nd, of cours se, that he w was a Rom man.

A. Courtyard; C B. B Sunken Ga ardens; C. So outhern Mou und; D. Pool.

The Northern Wing W of the palace inclu uded halls, rooms, cou urtyards an nd a large b bathhouse. The main entrance e was in the so outh, oppossite the brid dge. Its wallls were deccorated w with frescos s and its ceiling with sttucco. At th he center off the buildin ng was a co ourtyard ssurrounded by column ns on three sides. The wider colum mns of the eastern co olonnade we ere cconstructed d of small sttones and mortar m and bore Corin thian capita als. The low wer parts off the 152

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columns were plastered and painted red and black, while the upper portions were faced with grooved plaster.

North of the courtyard was the main bathhouse of the third palace. Entirely constructed of Roman concrete with stone facings in the opus reticulatum technique, it consisted of five rooms arranged in a row and with vaulted roofs. The main room served as an entrance hall where bathers undressed and relaxed. To the right one could walk to the caldarium (hot room), which was heated by hypocaust. This room was rectangular, its walls thicker than usual and in each of them was a niche. On the left side of the caldarium was a circular, domed room some 26 feet in diameter, probably a sudatorium (sweat room), heated by charcoal braziers. From the main room of the bathhouse, one could walk to a stepped pool, the frigidarium (cold room).

West of the bathhouse was a courtyard surrounded on three sides by columns with Ionic Capitals. The walls of the courtyard were decorated with frescos among the most lavish found in Herod's palaces. At the center of the courtyard was a garden, in which seven rows of 12 clay flowerpots were found. At the northern side of the courtyard, which had no columns, was a semi-circular plaza with walls built of Roman concrete. An entrance in the center of the rounded wall led to a rectangular, splendidly decorated room. Its walls were covered with frescos, its ceiling with stucco and the floor was of plaster, grooved to simulate tiles. This was probably the throne room, where the king received his visitors.

The largest of the halls of the palace was located on its western side. It measured 64 feet x 62 feet and was undoubtedly used for large receptions. Rows of columns surrounded it on three sides, the columns in the northern corner in the shape of a heart. The floor paving was of local and imported stone tiles, laid in opus sectile fashion (alternating colors and shapes placed so as to create geometric designs). The walls of the hall were covered with frescos and stucco.

The southern wing of the palace included the "sunken garden”, a large pool and the southern artificial mound. The sunken garden was a garden located within a rectangular structure measuring 471 feet x 130 feet. The back wall of the structure, with its series of niches, was built into the hillside. At the center of the wall was a large, circular, stepped niche.

It is assumed that a variety of plants were grown in the many flowerpots found there.

An artificial mound with a staircase ascending to its top was found south of the sunken garden.

The mound was created by building a large 67 feet x 63 feet frame of high walls in a grid, creating nine hollow spaces, which were then filled with earth and stones. Earth was heaped outside the frame, to create an artificial hill with a steep slope. This formed a stable platform for the superstructure, which consisted of a single, circular reception hall. The walls, with semicircular niches, were decorated with colored frescos. This hall, which was raised above its surroundings, afforded a wonderful view of the Jericho oasis.

In the first century CE, until its destruction during the Jewish Rebellion against Rome (66–70), the palace remained in use by members of King Herod's family.

Between 6 and 4 BC Herod developed a rash over much of his body and became very ill and miserable. Before he died in 4 BC, Herod left Jerusalem and came to Jericho, thinking that hot springs near the Dead Sea may make him feel better. One night, after a hot springs treatment, he sat up in bed and gave an oration, which basically said, “I will die soon. What bothers me is that I know the Jews will be glad I’m dead and will celebrate. Therefore I want you to gather all the popular rabbis, lock them in the hippodrome and kill them when I die.

Then maybe the people will mourn my death.”

Although there is no evidence that this proposed massacre actually happened, it gives us an idea into the way he thought. The Bible is the only source that tells us that Herod 153

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wanting to kill all the babies in Judah after the birth of Jesus was the reason why Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt.

Most of the rulers in power at this time were brutal. Herod was no different. He is just the one we are concerned about. He was an excellent builder. If you want to know more about Herod, the writings of Josephus offer a lot more into the tales surrounding him.

Bartimaeus And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, ‘Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.’ And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, ‘Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.’

And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, ‘Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.’ And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto him, ‘What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?’ The blind man said unto him, ‘Lord, that I might receive my sight.’ And Jesus said unto him, ‘Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole.’ And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

Even though this is a short story – and the story itself seems simple – there is much that goes on almost unnoticed. Let’s take a closer look at what is really going on in this story.

Jesus, the disciples and a large crowd of followers are traveling through Jericho on the way to Jerusalem. This area is hot, dusty and arid desert land. As they were leaving the city, they came across the blind beggar Bartimaeus. The prefix “Bar” in Hebrew means “son of” so the name Bartimaeus means “the son of Timaeus”. We know Bartimaeus was a blind beggar and sat near the outskirts of town.

To be blind 2,000 years ago meant you had no means whatsoever of supporting yourself. You literally were at the mercy of others. The only means of support a blind person had was to beg. Begging was a legitimate profession for anyone who could prove they were blind, paralyzed, or because of other problems, could not conduct a meaningful manner to support himself. If a person could prove to the authorities they were blind, they would be issued a “license”, which was not a piece of paper, but a cloak. The cloak became the legal license and the color of the cloak identified the person’s infirmity and gave them permission to beg. For example, an orange cloak could have been used to signify that you were blind, while a red cloak would inform people that you were paralyzed. The best place to be seen by the most people if you are begging was at the gates into and out of the city. So that is the setting as Jesus is leaving the city.

What we have next is the story of salvation. Bartimaeus heard Jesus coming and shouts out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Even though he was blind, Bartimaeus had no problem identifying Jesus as the Messiah when he called him the Son of David. He knew no man could help him; that only Jesus could help him.

When you think about it, we are all blind beggers inside, without any hope before our eyes are opened. It is the inside that is important; for it is there that the truth of one’s self lies. It makes no difference to God what we have done in the past, but it is everything to him when we believe and trust in him from our heart that we would cry out to him for mercy. And that is what Bartimaeus did. He disregarded the crowd and called to Jesus for mercy. Mercy itself means “something we do not deserve”. We need to realize God loves us even when we hate 154

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ourselves. And the more the crowd told Bartimaeus to shut up, the more he cried out to Jesus.

Jesus did not heal all the blind people that day, but he did heal Bartimaeus.

Jesus said “Call him.” This is a very simple sentence with a very powerful message. The creator of the universe heard him, recognized him, had compassion on him, and “called him.”

Now look at vs. 50, my NIV says, “Throwing his cloak aside”. This is so cool. After hearing Jesus coming, after crying out to him, after responding to the call of Jesus, the first thing Bartimaeus did was throw his beggar’s cloak away, because he knew he would never need it again. He knew he would never go back to doing what he did before Jesus came by. He knew he would never be the same again. He knew he would be changed forever. Jesus came his way and he was changed. And Jesus said to him, “Your faith has healed you”. And Bartimaeus followed Jesus. If we are not careful, we will cling to the cloak. If we are not careful, clinging to that cloak will keep us on the fence longer than necessary.

The first time I heard of that story, with a little more detail, was Dec 30, 2001, by pastor Loran Livingston. It made a big impact on me for a number of reasons. First, Bible stories really become fun when you take the time to look at each word that is there. A simple story can have so much meaning when you slow down enough and pay attention to what you are reading. The Bible is not a book to take to a speed-reading course. If we approach it that way, we will most likely miss the best part. Rather it is a book to be read slowly, realizing that understanding this book is a growing process, and takes time.

Going Up to Jerusalem Next we traveled to Jerusalem. While Jericho is almost 1,200 feet below sea level, our motel in Jerusalem was about 2,500 feet above sea level. So you literally travel up to Jerusalem. In Deuteronomy 16: ”Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty.”

There were three times a year you would walk to Jerusalem. Today it is a 40-minute bus ride but in the time of Jesus, it was a three-day walk uphill from Jericho. While you were walking, you would sing songs of degree or songs of ascent from Psalms 120–134. Then when you reached the top of the Mount of Olives you switched to the Halleluiah “We finally made it” songs of Psalms 113–118. You are singing for three days.

Psalm 120:1 In my distress I cried unto the LORD, because you are walking up hill.

Psalm 121: I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

You would constantly be thinking about where you are going. Your worship for the temple visit started three to four days before you arrived. Contrast that with today’s 15- to 30minute drive to the church. Yelling at the kids to get into the car or we are going to be late is not preparation for worship. See the difference. Preparation for worship was singing for days before you got there.

This is not an easy journey, however. In Luke 10:30–37, there is a story of a man walking from Jerusalem to Jericho who was attacked by thieves, And Jesus answering said, “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.”

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Anotther Psalm you should d know is Ps salm 92, the Sabbath Psalm. The ere is anoth her P Psalm that is also impo ortant. Only y one of the e 150 Psalm ms is attribu uted to Mosses – and th hat is P Psalm 90. The T essenc ce of that Ps salm is, “Lo ord, wherevver you are,, that is hom me to me.”

In Da avid’s wilde erness when n he was shepherding g, this is wh hat it looked d like. David d had n never seen Ireland, so o green pas sture is a relative term.. Israel is a lot like Callifornia. It iss green in the spring g if there is winter rain n and brown n after that. But this is more drasttic.

A Bedouin co ommunity – The T Bedouin n are the natiive Arabs. Th hey are the o original tent people with a camp fforever philosophy. They y don’t use te ents any morre, and they aren’t as nomadic, but itt is simple liv ving.

On th he side of the road you will also see s tall plan nts with yellow flowerss. The term m mustard see ed is actually the technical term for f a weed. It is transla ated as mustard seed in M Matthew 13 3, but musta ard is not na ative to this s area. Musstard would have been n familiar with the ttranslators of o the Kings s James Bible in 1611.

E Entering g Jerusa alem We passed p by and a went th hrough the Mount of O Olives range e in a tunne el, which is a kind o of barrier. East E of it is desert d and west of it is s the city off Jerusalem m. Hebrew U University a at JJerusalem is i a world-c class univerrsity.

Jerus salem was a divided city c from 19 948 to 1967 . The east was part off Jordan an nd the w west was pa art of Israell. Our mote el was abou ut a block aw way from th hat old line.. The new light rail ttrains runs along a the old o boundarry.

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T The courtyarrd of the Gran nd Courtyard d Hotel in Je erusalem. Th e buffet dining room is o on the lower level and above it is the main lo obby.

You will notice that t most of o the buildin ngs in Jerussalem are tthe same ccolor. By ord dinance tthey were in nstructed to o use Jerus salem stone e in all build dings. While e some of the older bu uildings d do not adhe ere to the co olor palette e, all the new wer building gs do. The idea is to kkeep the ch haracter o of the city th he same.

Jerus salem sits on o the edge e of the des sert. The we est side of Jerusalem averages 2 27 inches of ra ainfall. The east side gets 14.

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The Setting of the Birth Narrative Today, we investigate what the Biblical accounts tell us of the birth of Jesus based on accounts from Matthew and Luke.

Introduction As the crow flies, Bethlehem is only six miles from the outskirts of Jerusalem. Located in the “hill country” of Judah, Bethlehem was not a destination in the New Testament, but a pit stop. Most of the people traveling on the Ridge highway were on their way to Hebron, and Bethlehem was simply a rest stop to the east along the way. In the New Testament, however, most people ventured out this way to go to the Herodion, which is now the tomb of Herod the Great.

On the way to Bethlehem, we crossed the “V” shaped Hinnom Valley. It became Gehenna in the New Testament where the worm did not die and the fire was not quenched. It was a place for the emptying of trash and the burial of the poor. In the New Testament it was a place that Jesus used to talk about as “hell”.

As we looked at the Church of the Nativity in our workbooks, we couldn’t tell for sure if the nativity cave was the place where Jesus was born. But if it was not this one, it certainly was one very much like it. This is a “traditional” place, but it is a very early traditional place that dates back to AD 339 as marking a place about Jesus. It is one of the oldest traditional sites we have.

In 324 Constantine declared Christianity to become the religion of Rome. A church was erected on this site when Helena, the mother of the first Byzantine emperor Constantine, visited Bethlehem. It was natural to go and mark the spots of importance in the life of Jesus.

An octagonal church stood on that site. Over the years, it has had some adjustments. Today it is not one church, but many churches.

The city was sacked by the Samaritans during their revolt in 529 AD, but was rebuilt by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. Bethlehem was conquered by the Arab Caliphate of 'Umar ibn al-Khattāb in 637, who guaranteed safety for the city's religious shrines. In 1099, Crusaders captured and fortified Bethlehem and replaced its Greek Orthodox clergy with a Latin one. The Latin clergy were later expelled after the city was captured by Saladin, the sultan of Egypt and Syria. With the coming of the Mamluks in 1250, the city's walls were demolished, and were subsequently rebuilt during the rule of the Ottoman Empire.

The British wrested control of the city from the Ottomans during World War I, and it was to be included in an international zone under the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine. Jordan annexed the city in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It was occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. Since 1995, Bethlehem has been governed by the Palestinian National Authority.

Bethlehem has a Muslim majority today, but is also home to one of the largest Palestinian Christian communities. The Bethlehem agglomeration includes the towns of Beit Jala and Beit Sahour, as well as the refugee camps of Aida and Azza. Bethlehem's chief economic sector is tourism, which peaks during the Christmas season when Christian pilgrims throng to the Church of the Nativity. Bethlehem is also the town where the four chapters of Ruth take place.

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Bethlehem One thing immediately noticeable in this part of Israel is that the attitude changes. While the Galilee area is relaxed, quiet and easygoing, Bethlehem is loud. In fact, it is hard to find a quiet time to think or pray among the Muslim’s call to prayer speakers, the crowds, serious worshippers and secular tourists. We stood in long lines in churches just to spend a minute in front of a traditional site and hopefully get a photo opportunity. There were always people in front of you and behind you, like you are being squeezed in a human press. Although I’m sure Jesus did not intend these sites to be so chaotic, somehow it all works.

Jesus was born as the “bread of life” in the town of Bethlehem called the “house of bread”. Bethlehem was originally called Ephrath (Genesis 35:16, 19; 48:7; Ruth 4:11). It is located some six miles south of Jerusalem at about 2,550 feet above sea level, which means it is a little higher than Jerusalem, but about the same elevation as the Mount of Olives. The word Ephrath means “fertile.”

The first mention of Bethlehem's in the Bible is in regard to the burial of Jacob's wife Rachel, who died during labor (Genesis 35:19, 48:7). The city was also the birthplace of David and the location where David was anointed as King by the prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 16:413). In 1 Samuel 17:12–20, we have the story of David, the son of an Ephrathrite named Jesse, taking food to his brothers, as well as the David and Goliath story. In 2 Samuel 23:13– 18, David longed for water from the well at Bethlehem, And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!

Shepherds watching over their flocks in fields just east of Bethlehem were the first people told of the birth of Jesus: Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.'

So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven that the shepherds said to one another, 'Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.' (Luke 2:8-12, 15, NKJV) The traditional birth site of Jesus is below the altar. To get there, you descend a set of marble stairs to the right of the altar and to exit you climb a set of stairs to the left of the altar.

You will not see a cave-style house. Part of the original house was removed to make a way for the stairs.

Do you remember we discussed that the Torah scrolls are located in a wood door with a curtain in front of it? Here the elements for the mass are also stored in a wood door with a curtain in front of it. Europeans built this church. Helena, Constantine’s mother, was a Roman.

When they built the church, they made the roof look like the roof of a stable. However, the place of the manger was at the back of a stone cave. The Europeans designed it to remind them of Jesus’ birth.

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Altho ough the lam mps and the ornate arrtwork are n not color co oordinated, they highlig ght h how Jesus meant everrything to th hese people e. Since pe eople bring them from communitie es a around the world it is not n possible e to coordin nate colors. You need to look passt the ornate e and tthe mismatc ch and into the hearts of people. That reallyy is what it iss all about. Jesus cha anged m my life.

At the top of the ese lamps are a “Christm mas balls” tthat look likke eggs. Ch hristmas balls o originated frrom the eas stern side of o France. You Y would leave your shoes outsside at nigh ht and tthe egg sale esman wou uld come by y and leave e the eggs in your shoe e. Howeverr, some u unscrupulou us egg sale esmen would come by y and replacce your egg gs with theirr own. So the p people startted to mark k the eggs with w unique e designs. O Over time, tthe designss became m more a and more fa ancy. At Ch hristmas, they would decorate the e tree with tthe hollowe ed out eggss.

If you u look up yo ou will see it is a cruciform churcch – long no orth to south h and shortt east a and west. The T cross fo orms over the top of th he cave. Th his Jesus wa as born to d die. In the G Gospel, JJesus’ pictu ure is often a metapho or. Jesus wa as born as tthe “bread of life” in Bethlehem the ““house of bread”. He will w become e our spiritu ual food “ass often as yyou eat this bread and drink ffrom this cu up”.

Jesu us was placed in a man nger – a pla ace of feeding. He willl be “wrapp ped in swad ddling cclothes”. Th his cloth wa as used for two purpos ses, the wra apping of th he dead and d the birth o of the L Lamb – the Lamb born n to die. he Gospel are a designe ed to help yyou understtand the the eological de etails The details of th b behind the meaning m off the Gospe el. For exam mple, in the e book of Jo ohn when Jesus was h hanging 161

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on the cross, we are told what type of branch was used to give Jesus a sponge soaked in vinegar and gall. What was it and why is it important? It was a hyssop plant. Hyssop is what you used to place the blood over the door or tent post during Passover. This was the Passover Lamb. So you are learning who he is by what he did. He is what he does.

Today, this church has split ownership. The Greek Orthodox has one side of the church and the Armenians Orthodox has the other. Each territory is jealously guarded. Although the center section is shared, the schedule is not. This means that visitors from both sides often show up for events at the same time. It is probably not the idea of unity that Jesus had in mind for his church. On December 28, 2011, Fox news showed a broom fight involving these monks that had to be broken up by the Arab police. The Latin Catholics built next door, so they are all sharing the same site.

Jesus’ Birth in Bethlehem There are two accounts in the New Testament to describe Jesus as being born in Bethlehem. According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus' parents lived in Nazareth but traveled to Bethlehem for the census of BC 6. Jesus was born there before the family returned to Nazareth. Mary and Joseph were not there for fun; they were there because of taxation. By this time, Mary would have been very pregnant and very miserable. The seven-day journey to Bethlehem from Nazareth would have involved crossing the Jezreel Valley to Beth She`an, crossing the River Jordan to Perea to avoid Samaria, walking down the eastern side of the Jordan River, crossing the Jordan again at Jericho, before making a final three-day walk up to Bethlehem. Did Mary have a donkey? We don’t know. You can’t have a baby in the front room because that is where everyone lives and sleeps. There was already somebody in the guest room (cottaluma), so the only space left was in the backroom – the stable area.

Think of it this way. There was a prince who fell in love with a girl. However, he knew that if she discovered that he is a prince, she may have fallen in love with him for the wrong reasons. So he threw away his expensive clothes and put on ordinary clothes. He began to labor with her in the fields and eventually won her love. That is what was going on here. Jesus gave up his throne in the highest place in heaven and put on human skin.

When you pray, you are praying to the Father, but you are picturing the Son because he was like us. Jesus did what we did growing up. He played games. He stubbed his toe. He met the neighbors. And he won our love by being like us.

Is this the actual birthplace of Jesus?

We don’t the actual birthplace of Jesus for sure. But that’s not important. What is important is that God put on a human skin to become like us and win our love. He loved his Father. He loved his Father’s creation. And he loved us.

So when did this happen?

Luke wrote that the shepherds were out in their fields that night. The light rains begin here in November and December and the heavy rains come in January or February so it probably was not those times of the year.

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W Where Did D We Get G Dece ember 25?

2 It wa as the winte er solstice so the Roma ans alreadyy had that w weekend offf. When the ey got a new God, they just added a it to a celebratio on that was already a h holiday. If w we can change tthe birthday y of Washin ngton and Lincoln L beca ause it give es us a thre ee-day weekkend, the R Romans ccan change e the birthda ay of Jesus s. We don’t know for su ure becausse Jews did d not keep rrecords o of birthdays s. It was nott important until the Greeks took over the ch hurch becau use every G Greek g god had a birthday. b So o when the Gospel rea ached the G Greeks, they wanted to o know his b birthday. Ho owever, the e Jews had no answerr because itt was not im mportant to them.

Silver Star mark ks the place where Jesu us was bor n according g to Christia an tradition n.

Altho ough the Silver Star wa as placed in 1717, acccording to R Randy it is placed ove er the w wrong room m of the cav ve-style hou use – the gu uestroom (ccottaluma) and not the e stable. It iis p possibly the e right hous se, just the wrong w room m. At the en nd of the da ay, though, the exact location iss not imporrtant.

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T The Storry of St. Nickola as Some of you ma ay know the e earliest St. S Nickolass story. Nickkolas was a Bishop of the e early church h in western n Turkey. Itt is said tha at Jolly “ol” S St. Nick ha as replaced the real St. N Nickolas, who w was a gospel g teach hing missio onary. Howe ever, the ha at he wore was red with a w white ball on the top ju ust like St. Nick.

N Nicko olas is remembered fo or helping a local bake er who had three daug ghters. Due to sseveral bad d years, the baker did not have much m bread to sell. When his daug ghters reacched tthe age to marry, m the baker b did no ot have eno ough mone ey for their d dowries. Bisshop Nicko olas is ssaid to have e brought th hree little so ocks full of gold and h ung them o on the wind dow seal. Th he ssymbol for a Pawn Sho op comes from f those three sockss. So St. Niickolas, Christmas and d pawn sshops are all a related in n a strange way. The story s is told d that Nicko olas got a pllate from th he altar a and sold it – or pawned it – to rais se the money for the b baker. Nickkolas though ht it was mo ore important fo or the bakerr to have ho onor than to o have thatt plate on th he altar.

Therre is also a reason why y the lamps s have roun nd balls. Ra ats would co ome into th he cchurch, go down d the chain and drrink the oil. However, tthe rats cou uld not keep their feet on a rround glass s globe and they would d fall on the e floor leaving the oil in n the lamp.

The Gospel of Matthew M im mplies that th he family already lived d in Bethleh hem when JJesus w was born, and a later mo oved to Naz zareth. Mattthew reporrts that Hero od the Grea at, when to old that a 'King of th he Jews' ha ad been borrn in Bethle ehem, orderred the killin ng of all the e children a aged ttwo and und der in the to own and su urrounding areas. a Whe en Jesus' fa ather, Josep ph, was wa arned of tthis in a dre eam, the fam mily fleed to o Egypt and d returned o only after H Herod had d died. Being w warned in another a drea am not to re eturn to Jud dea, Josep ph withdrew w the family to Galilee a and w went to live in Nazaretth.

The original church was s an octagon shape. This mosaic floo or probably d dates back to o the Helena church of 339 9 which was the floor to that church.. This is the o oldest churc ch floor you w will ever see e.

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This is an early Armenian Baptismal. It originallyy sat to the left of the a altar and is from tthe period 300 3 – 600 AD. A This on ne has been n moved, fillled in with cement and given a m metal ttop and today it is a we ell cap, or a cistern ca ap. If you re emoved the concrete, yyou would h have ffour semi-ciircles in a north-southn -east-west position forrming a cro oss. About 1 18 inches d down, yyou would find f a seat in i each sem mi-circle. Th he center w would be op pen so you could stand d up in itt. e the ea arly church until you be ecame a member of th hat church. In the You could not enter e early church h it took two o years to become b a member. m Th he first yearr you were called a “se eeker” a and you had d to sit outs side the chu urch in an area a called the “porch of the seekkers”. The ffirst yyear was co onstant insttruction. Wh hen you gra aduated fro om “seeker school”, the e Saturdayy night b before Eastter Sunday,, you were called a “he earer” and w went the “h hearer’s porrch”, a little closer tto the front door. This is where yo ou remained d for the ne ext year. No ow you had d permission to go tto the door of the church and liste en to the se ervices and preaching..

Everry Sunday, there would d be four re eadings – o one from the e law, one ffrom the pro ophets, o one from the Gospel, and a one fro om the episttles – follow wed by a se ermon afterr each reading.

A After your year y as a “h hearer”, the Saturday night n before e Easter Su unday, you graduated. Only tthen were you y allowed d into the ch hurch.

In the e early church, you wo ould be bap ptized in fro ont of the de eacons in th he nude. Fo or w women, dea aconesses were used. The baptis sm was performed in the nude to o show thatt there w was nothing g “hidden” about a you. Pagans wo ould step intto the cente er of the ba aptismal, facce w west, and denounce d Satan S and th he old man. Then, in e each of the other semi-circles, the ey 165

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w would dunk k their face into the water to the Father, F turn to the nextt semi-circle e to the Son n, then tturn to the last semi-circle, to the Holy Spirit. This was tthe teachin ng of the trin nity. Then they e exited the same s way th hey went in n. This differed from th he early Jew wish baptism ms, which involved jus st one dunk king.

Therre are two trriangles – one o on each side of th he inscriptio on. In Latin, this is calle ed a ttabulae insu ulate (an insulated tab blet). Now why w was tha at important? A tabula ae insulate w was u used only fo or gods or holy h things.. Remembe er the niche es at Baniass? In the history of the e world, m most people e were illite erate. They never saw their name e written down. The on nly time their n name was ever e written n on anythin ng at all wa as at their de So eath – and they neverr saw that! S w when they made m a pilg grimage, ins stead of writing their n name they w would etch a cross into oa ffixture. It wa as a symbo ol of love.

Mostt people don’t come he ere to see the t large sla atted wood den doorwa ay in the pho oto on p page 167. That T doorwa ay is actuallly pieces frrom an old doorway off 1227. It w was destroye ed in tthe 1837 ea arthquake and a then rea assembled. If Randy p pointed som mething outt it was eith her very o old or had an a interestin ng story behind it. This s wall/doorw way is both h. It is wood d from 1227 7. A cchurch com mmunity in Armenia, A Ea astern Turk key, decided d to save th heir offering gs and send d some w wood carve ers and cutters to cut a church do oor and send it to Beth hlehem beca ause this Je esus cchanged my y life. A gro oup of abou ut 30 men to ook the doo or from Arm menia to the e Mediterran nean S Sea, floated d it behind a ship to Ja affa, loaded d it on carts, and haule ed it to this church.

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Unfo ortunately, a third of the e men died d along the way. Here’s the point.. Today, we e can h hop on an airplane a and d the next day d we are here lookin ng at where e Jesus wass born. If yo ou look a at the etchin ngs on the stone and the t wooden n walls, you u will see th hat it was an extraordin nary e effort for mo ost people to t make the e journey here. Many people died d trying to d do so. Just getting h here was a life-time ac ccomplishm ment for many people. The story o of Jesus ch hanged peo ople all o over the wo orld. Apprec ciate where you are an nd what you u have done.

K Key Note: National N Geographic G c did a stud dy on the C Church of the Nativitty and all the tthings thatt are here on o this site e. Randy sa aid it was v very well d done and c can be found o online – Na ational Geo ographic/C Church of the t Nativity y.

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C Churc ch of St. S Cattherine This is another site that wa as not listed d in the orig ginal tour gu uide, but we went anyyway.

T This church h has an underground connection n to the Chu urch of the Nativity. Ca atherine wa as m martyred. She S was putt on a spike ed wheel an nd tortured while they waited for her to recant. Her ssymbol is a wheel.

e was beca ause of wha at was below w the churcch. In a cavve that The reason we visited here anslated the e Bible into Latin – the e Vulgate. JJerome iss connected to the nativity cave, Jerome tra iss from the fourth f centu ury and is the reason we w say, “Tu urn in your Bible to John chapterr 3.”

JJerome “letttered” the chapters c of the Bible, which w now has numbe ered chapte ers. Separa ate cchapters ha appened in the fourth century, c but it would b be more tha an another 1 1,400 yearss b before we had h numberred verses.

In Western W art, whenever you y see a man m holding g a skull, it most likelyy is Hamlet. If he is sstanding by y a skull, ho owever, thatt is Hierony ymus or Jerrome. Peop ple in this day did not learn onsive read tthe Bible by y chapter an nd verse. The T Armenia ans learned d it by respo ding – my p part, yyour part. Look at Jero ome standin ng beside th he skull. Th here is no w way that is a an RJ. That is a L Latin. He ha as a burr un nder his sad ddle and his interest iss this: the B Bible is not being prop perly ttaught.

In the e fourth cen ntury A.D., the language spoken in the Rom man Empire began to cchange.

U Until then, Greek G was the domina ant languag ge. People o of every eth hnic backgrround in the e 168

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empire spoke Greek in addition to their native tongue. The Romans encouraged this since they saw themselves as the heirs of Greek culture and civilization.

Over time, Latin – the language spoken by the Romans – gradually began to replace Greek as the common language in the western part of the empire. This had a significant impact on the Church since the New Testament was written in Greek. Christians used the Septuagint – a Greek version of the Hebrew Bible – as its version of the Old Testament. (The word Septuagint is derived from the Latin word for 70 and is based on a legend that the Greek translation was the work of 70 translators.) Because fewer and fewer Christians in the West could now read or understand Greek, the Church faced a serious pastoral problem. How could the Bible remain accessible to believers?

If the Bible was to be able to continue shaping Christian faith and life, it had to be rendered in Latin. Pope Damasus wanted a good, serviceable and authorized Latin text of the Gospels for the liturgy. In 382, he commissioned a young priest named Jerome to revise the Latin versions of the Gospels that were in circulation.

The Story of Jerome Like any good translator, Jerome had a flair for languages. He was “trilingual.” He could speak, write and understand Latin, Greek and Hebrew – something that few others could do.

Jerome also studied Aramaic. However, although he could read it competently, he admitted having a problem with pronunciation. He could also speak Syriac and had some knowledge of Arabic.

Jerome traveled the land to learn about the important sites. In many respects, he did exactly what Luke did. He did his historical research into the sites, and then he translated the words into Latin.

Jerome tried and failed three times to become a pastor of a church. He simply was not a people person. He was so “heady” that he came across as boring to the common person.

Plus he was very much into his writing. However, two women – Paula and Eustochium – believed in his abilities as a writer/translator and they financed his efforts. Since he did not have a big budget, he bought a room that was an old tomb and he carefully translated the scripture into Latin, which is the basis of much of what we study today. So when you think of Jerome, do not look at him as a failed pastor, but as a great man who did what he was meant to do.

There were many names for the same site in the Bible. Jerome simplified this research for us. Because of the efforts of these three people, you now have a Bible that you can understand. The King James people went back to the Greek and Hebrew, but also relied heavily on the Latin. Jerome had a part in your Bible even though it did not come from the Latin.

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Jerome’s cave site workplace w as he translated the Bible into o Latin.

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S Sheph herds'' Field d, Beth hlehem m Abou ut a mile to the east off Bethlehem m is the villa age of Beit Sahour (Grreater Bethlehem) w which is hom me to one of o the mostt sacred pla aces to Chr istians – the Shepherd ds' Field. This is w where the Angel A of the e Lord visite ed the shep pherds and informed th hem of Jesus' birth. "A And tthere were in the same e country sh hepherds abiding a in th he field, kee eping watch h over theirr flock b by night. An nd the Ange el said to th hem, Fear not, n for beho old, I bring you good ttidings of grreat jjoy, which shall s be to all a people" (Luke ( 2:8-10).

each have ttheir own S Shepherds' Field.

The Roman Catholics and the Greek Orthodox e T The Roman n Catholic site s features s a Francisc can Chape l designed to resemble the sheph herds' ttent, while the t Greek Orthodox O site features a fifth centtury church built over a cave.

At the Orthodox x Shepherd's Field the ere is an underground Church wh hich, on the night o of Christ's Nativity, N was the cave of the shep pherds, who o heard the e angelic prroclamation n, ""Glory to Go od in the hiighest, peac ce on earth h and good will to men n" (Luke 2-1 14). This ca ave was tthe site of many m churches built by y Saint Hele ena in the yyear 325 AD D. The cave e functione ed first a as a shelterr for the she epherds and has been n treated ass such by C Christians siince the fou urth ccentury.

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Rugg ged wildern ness covers s much of Is srael. The ttwo most prrominent de eserts are tthe JJudea Wilde erness, which runs alo ong the eas stern edge o of the Jude ea Mountain ns, and the N Negev, whic ch is locate ed in southe ern Israel.

Israe el's wilderne ess abound ds with rock ks, hills, and d canyons. The climatte is one of e extremes. Scorching S hot h tempera atures by da ay turn to near-freezin ng temperattures at night. But e even though h it receives very little rainfall, the e wildernesss can susta ain the flockks of noma adic sshepherds.

The Israelites fe elt rooted in n the desertt: Their patrriarchs had d been nom madic sheph herds a and the Isra aelites wand dered there e for 40 yea ars before e entering the e Promised Land. Jew wish w writers filled d the text with w wilderne ess images s.

Altho ough the wilderness ha ad few settled areas, m many peop ple sought ssolitude or ssafety tthere. David d hid from King K Saul th here, John the Baptistt lived there e, and Jesus faced hiss ttemptation there t - all in n Israel's wilderness. w Whether W se eeking solitu ude, safetyy, or pasture es for ttheir flocks, the extrem mes of dese ert life remin nded the Isrraelites of ttheir need ffor God. pherds in Is srael are qu uite young with w childre n as young g as 12 give en responsibility Shep ffor an entire e flock. Gro own men rarely travel with w the floccks. Instead d, they wou uld watch th heir u under-shepherds from a distance e while they y cared for m matters in tthe camp. O Over time, tthe sshepherd’s voice beco omes familia ar to the sh heep. When n several flo ocks stay to ogether for a n night, the sh heep alway ys recognize e their shep pherd’s voicce in the m morning. The ey will not ffollow a any other vo oice.

Desc cribing God d as a sheph herd in Psa alm 23, Davvid created a beautiful picture forr the Israelites, and a for us. As A we unde er-shepherd d the “flockss” God has put in our care – whe ether tthey be frien nds, childre en, students s, or coworrkers – God d is watchin ng over us. But the ccomparison n also brings a challenge. As God d’s sheep, h have we sp pent enough h time with him to rrecognize his h voice? Iff we are truly his sheep, then we will follow h him alone, ignoring other vvoices that may tempt us.

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The 23rd Psalm Traveling Israel under the tutelage of Randy was a study opportunity full of “wow” moments. Some were special moments that blew us all away and reduced us to tears. The first was the “engagement” at Capernaum. The second was the 23rd Psalm presented in a way that none of us will ever forget. Among many things Randy is a gifted storyteller. This story comes straight from the Bible.

In the 23rd Psalm there is a lot of “sheep talk.” Sheep do not have a very good view of life. They mainly see the south end of the northbound sheep in front of them and the rest of the time they are looking down. Randy asked us to look at the hills across the valley from where we were sitting.

Many Westerners imagine lush, green meadows when they hear the word “pasture,” but “green pastures” in Israel are rocky, barren hillsides. Scattered amid the rocks are a few blades of grass. When a raindrop falls or some light dew collects beneath a rock, a single tuft of grass can sprout up. It takes eight hours of chewing for a sheep to satisfy its appetite. They are like constantly chewing lawnmowers. They have very few reasons to raise their head and look around.

Randy had us to look at this very familiar passage about shepherds and sheep.

Although Randy admitted he was not a shepherd, in 1981 he spent two weeks in the field with a friend, Mahmoud, who was a young shepherd boy from Beit Sahour. He spent one week out in the field, returned to get fresh supplies, then went out for a second week. Randy did this because if God were to ever call him to shepherd people, he wanted to know what it meant to be a shepherd. The biblical definition for the leader of a church is not CEO. It is shepherd. I want to talk to you from the perspective of the sheep. Let’s look at the 23rd Psalm from the sheep’s point of view.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Picture the sheep walking along talking and boasting about their shepherd. Now look at the next verse.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters, or quite waters.”

Randy learned from Mahmoud that four things must happen before sheep will lie down for the night. And if you don’t get them to lie down, they will “baaaaaa” all night and you will not sleep!

1. Sheep will not lie down if they are hungry Sheep will die standing on their hooves. If they are hungry, they will shake and shiver and fall over dead. They simply will not lie down if they are hungry. They need to have a full stomach. The way to find out if they are full is to reach between their front legs and tickle their stomachs. If they are not full, a shepherd will reach into his grain pouch and give them the grain they need to become full. So my heavenly shepherd cares enough for me that he will fill me up with food.

2. Sheep will not lie down if they are thirsty This is a very dry and dusty area. Mahmoud would carry a skin full of water to give the sheep water if they needed it. This was especially true with the younger sheep than the older sheep. You can check around their nose and see if they are dried out. My heavenly shepherd knows when I need water. What is interesting in this country is that the sheep are afraid of the sound of water. They will drink from still, standing or quite water, but not running water.

Sheep have agile, but weak front legs, and strong back legs. The best wool from a sheep is found under the chin. When a sheep drinks, the thick wool beneath their chin can get wet and 173

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heavy. The weight of the heavy wool can sometimes be enough to pull the animal over into the water and drown. My heavenly shepherd knows what I am afraid of and goes before me to make the waters still so I can drink from them.

3. Sheep suffer from parasites The third thing is that sheep will often get parasites and bugs in their nose because they hold their face close to the ground all day. Part of the job of the shepherd is to clean out the nose of the sheep with something like a Q-Tip. Being in the ministry would be a great place if you did not need to clean out the nose of others. Part of being a shepherd is teaching to those we know are beating their spouse or are cheating on their spouse.

4. Sheep will not lie down until they feel safe Sheep will not lie down unless they feel secure. To make them feel secure you place them in a sheepfold, which is a cave with some rocks or thorny branches placed around the front. The shepherd sleeps in the opening. Although the sheep could easily jump over the shepherd, they don’t. They stay within their boundaries because they know the shepherd is there. My heavenly shepherd makes me feel secure, cleans my nose, and gives me food and water. Your heavenly shepherd will not lead you where there is no way out. You may be tempted, but he will always provide an out.

He restoreth my soul. One of the problems with the sheep is their skin shade. Sheep have pink skin under their hair. Light skin sheep could get a summer fever. In the summer months, ultraviolet rays will ripen fruit like they will ripen light skin people. Pink skinned sheep are affected by ultraviolet rays, but goats have dark skin underneath their fur and are not affected in the same manner. You need to check and see if the sheep have a headache. The sheep will not lie down if they do not feel well. If they are warm, take a flask of oil and pour it on their head, rub their head and they go and lie down.

Mahmoud did not know if rubbing the head of the sheep makes the headache go away, but he said, “I don’t know if it takes the pain away but I think they want the shepherd to know they are in pain.” There is a certain comfort given by the shepherd.

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. If you look at a hill where there are sheep, you will see breaks in the vegetation where they have been walking…chewing…walking…chewing. Sheep also eat right down to the root. So if you have five sheep walking single file, each sheep is eating right next to the sheep in front, creating a trough.

There are two ways to say “a path” in the Hebrew language. He could have said like a “roadway, or highway” of righteous. That is not the word. That is not what it means here. What it means here is like a meandering path. But righteousness is not like a meandering path, right? Oh yes it is. You follow the shepherd where he takes you, and the pathway is not always straight. Randy told us he had a friend who was convinced that God was going to call him to minister in France. So he went to seminary and studied French. He is now a minister in Quebec, Canada. It was the right idea, but the wrong location. You follow the shepherd; not the path. The shepherd will take you where you need to go.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” Why? For thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Mahmoud had both a rod and a staff. The rod is a short baton that hangs on your belt. The biggest problems here are the foxes that prey on the weaker sheep and the young lambs. If you throw the baton at the feet of a fox, it will take off running. I understand the imagery of God’s rod whacking my enemies, but what about the staff? Sheep do not walk by sight, but by sound and hearing. The staff, 174

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the long shaft with the candy cane top, is to hit a rock. The sheep never look up. They continue to walk, walk, walk, and chew, chew, chew. Although the staff gives direction, that is not all it does.

While sheep will normally follow the shepherd, goats are not so obedient. They will wander away by themselves. Sheep feel safe if they are close to and/or touching other sheep.

But once in a while you will get one sheep that will wander out of line to follow one blade of grass, then two, then 20. Now the sheep is starting to create a new trough. The problem is not that one sheep as much as it is the others that will follow him.

If there is an animal that is leading others astray, a shepherd may need to place a large rubber band around the snout of the animal that continues to lead others astray, put its leg against a rock and break the leg. At that point, the sheep will bite the shepherd if the rubber band is not in place. The shepherd then immediately resets the leg and carries that animal.

For the next two to three weeks, the sheep will not be able to walk on that leg. It will be about six to eight weeks before the animal is fully healed. That also means that every bit of food the sheep eats will come from the shepherd. All the water will come from the shepherd. When healed, that animal may walk with a slight limp, but it will never again leave the side of the shepherd.

Here is the point. If you are ever placed in a shepherding position, be aware of your discipline. You can only carry one sheep at a time. When you see an image of a sheep around a shepherd’s neck, the sheep is being punished. It is not a happy time.

The shepherd will walk the sheep on the side of a hill rather than down in the valley.

Most of the loose stones and rocks are at the bottom of the valley and it is easy for the sheep to break a leg. That is also where you will find more snakes and rodents. Every once in a while, however, a shepherd will need to lead the sheep through a valley to get to greener pastures. If a sheep gets out of line, a shepherd can take the curved top of the shaft, grab the hindquarters of the sheep and pull him back in line. The sheep will never look up, but will just keep walking and chewing. Sometimes the staff gives direction and sometimes that staff gives correction. The sheep sometimes need correction if they are going the wrong way.

The most frequent cause of death in the wilderness is not starvation, thirst, or heat exhaustion but drowning. Surprisingly, most wilderness deaths happen through floods. Since the nearby mountains made of limestone cannot absorb rainwater, the water will run into the desert valley creating sudden and violent floods that fill the wadis - canyons that have been carved out by past floods. Anyone standing in the wadi when a flood comes will be swept away to their death. Shortly after the flood, a wadi becomes dry again. Sometimes, a little water from a previous flood will remain on the wadi floor. This water will be attractive to the thirsty wilderness flocks.

Every once in a while a sheep may fall in a crevice. What do you think the sheep behind will do? That’s right. They will follow the sheep in front. Randy told us that he has seen a five-sheep pile up. The crooked end of the shaft is used to pull the sheep out of danger. The shaft is for direction, correction, but it is also for rescue. Sometimes it recues me from my own stupidity and pulls me out of the crevice.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies”. In this culture you do not sit down and eat with someone unless you have a relationship with them. There is a picture of Sadat and Begin shaking hands during a peace conference back in the late 1970s.

The handshake did not mean anything to the people in the Middle East. But they knew they were serious about peace when they sat down and broke bread together. He makes it possible for me to sit with my enemies and be filled and have peace with them.

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Do you remember the meal covenant in scripture? Remember when Laban tricked Jacob (Genesis 29) Now in the evening he took his daughter Leah, and brought her to him; and Jacob went in to her. Laban also gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a maid. So it came about in the morning that, behold, it was Leah! And he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served with you? Why then have you deceived me?”

There was not peace between them until they broke bread together in Genesis 31:54 Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his kinsmen to the meal; and they ate the meal and spent the night on the mountain.”

And what about the story of Jesus and Peter? In John 18:25-27, Peter denies knowing Jesus. Jesus is crucified and resurrected. Then in John 21, Peter and the boys leave Jerusalem, walk back to the Sea of Galilee and are out fishing. Jesus appears to them on the shore. Peter had failed Jesus and Jesus needs to restore the relationship with Peter in front of the others. In John 21:12, Jesus says “Come and have breakfast.” Let’s eat together. Let’s have a meal together. Let’s restore our relationship. In the verses that follow, Jesus says, Pete, we are going to change your occupation. I want you to stop being a fisherman and start being a shepherd. “Feed my lambs. Take care of my sheep. Feed my sheep.”

If the trumpet blows today and you are called home, the next thing that will happen is a dinner, because you are home. It is all about the relationship.

In the Great Commission, we are called to make disciples. Making disciples is a shepherding job. Let me tell you why I said that. We were taught it is all about evangelism. But it’s not. Yes we need to evangelize, and yes we need to share the Gospel, and yes they need to say yes. But that is the beginning of the relationship. We spend too much time running around sharing the Gospel and, in the process we leave spiritual orphans all over the place.

Although they have a new life, they don’t know what to do with it.

The difference between a fisherman and a shepherd is that a fisherman does not need to do anything but catch fish. It is not required that a fisherman have any kind of relationship with the fish. But that is not true with a shepherd. You relate to the needs of that animal.

Shepherds don’t take their sheep lightly. A shepherd will go out of his way for his sheep. A shepherd is in many ways like mom.

Thou anointest my head with oil. Remember rubbing the head with oil? You do not carry gallons of oil with you. You carry only a little flask. So how do you do it? You put a dish under their head, under their chin. Pour the oil on their head and rub their head. Some of the oil will run down into the dish and you put that back into your flask. You will lose some, but not all of it.

My cup runneth over. That means that you just keep comforting, and comforting, and comforting. For some of us, God had to use a lot of oil.

To reach people today requires us to provide so many more things because people are not hearing us anymore. What worked in the 1950s does not work today. You can’t call people on the phone anymore because today you will be annoying them.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” It is a love that will follow me and not let me go. That is how the sheep feel about their shepherd. My shepherd will not let me fall. The house of the Lord is the sheepfold.

A sheepfold is never built on a flat area. It is built on a hill. You have a cave and place the rocks down the hill. Sheep need to have the parameters, but they also need something to do, otherwise they will bite each other. Our churches are filled with sheep that have nothing to do. Some are running themselves to death while others have too much time. The church is 176

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tthe body of Christ and we need to o function to ogether. W When Paul w writes in Ga al. 5:15 – “B But if yyou bite and d devour on ne another, take care that you arre not consu umed by on ne another”” he is w writing in sh heep talk. Be B careful th hat you don n’t open a w wound that will not hea al and kill yo our b brother. The e sheep willl move around in the sheepfold s a as one herd d.

God will give yo ou small thing to see how h you wil l handle big g things. A small thing is w wealth. A biig thing is a human he eart. In God d’s economyy, “stuff” do oes not mea an a whole lot.

P Practically everything e you y own, yo ou don’t rea ally own. Yo ou came in nto the world naked, an nd you w will go out with w whatev ver they dec cide to bury y you in. Th here is no U U-Haul follow wing behind the h hearse. So make your life about real r things. There are only two th hings that are eternal – the W Word of Go od and peop ple, becaus se they both h have the b breath of G God.

T The Te ent at Shep pherd’s s Field d

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T The Herodio on

Arial photogra aph of the H Herodion.

For the t most pa art, this area a was the wilderness. w Even as fa ar back as D David, very few p people lived d here. Hou using out in this area is s relatively new. This iis the picturre I want yo ou to rremember of o this area. When Ma ary and Jose eph travele ed from Jeru usalem up tto Bethlehe em, ffrom many miles away y they would d be looking g up at thiss mountain fortress, se eeing their ttax sshekels at work. w This “Christmas” “ ” journey was not reallly what theyy wanted to o be doing. Mary iss heavily prregnant. Jo oseph, who has survive ed eight or nine month hs of emba arrassment, is ccoming hom me to a grou up of people who are not convincced that hiss wife is telling the truth, to p pay a tax th hey don’t wa ant to pay in the shado ow of lavish h spending they didn’tt like.

If you u think of our own Aprril 15 tax de eadline, you u can get a feeling for what this jo ourney w was like. Th hey are not coming he ere singing “Glory, “ Glory, Halleluia ah!” If you a are Mary, yyou are p probably ve ery uncomfo ortable and tired of going through h a series o of Roman ch heckpoints to get yyour papers s looked at.. To add ins sult to injury y, you are n not even go oing to be a able to stay in a g guest room, but in the back of the e home in a stable. Th he point is th hat this is n not the storyy you p probably grew up with. Imagine going g to a well w for yourr water and then havin ng to bathe in a ssmall tub while a few miles m away your neighbors are fro olicking aro ound in their swimming g pool.

T That is how w the govern nment is sp pending you ur money. F Feel that! This is not th he Bing Cro osby H Hallmark Ch hristmas Ca ard that we e have created in the U USA over th he years.

Now consider th he contrast between Herod, H who ruled by m might, and Jesus who w was b born to be right. r Herod d took. Jesu us gave. He erod knew tthat if you kkeep slavess and paid w workers working six da ays a week and gave them t a Sab bbath off, th hey will be ttoo tired to revolt.

JJesus came e to set us free f from bo ondage. He erod was a criminal wh ho was burried as a kin ng.

JJesus was a king burie ed as a crim minal.

Altho ough there was w already a mounta ain here, it w was built up p to create the currentt sshape. Hero od created the building g, but Rome levied the e taxation. It takes bettween 18 and 36 m months to obtain o a tax x payment in n the Roma an World. Itt was done in segments, starting in the w west and moving m east.. Augustus issued a de ecree that a census sh hould be ta aken of the Roman 178

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w world. Luke e chapter 2 is the only place we re ead about tthe ccensus of Quirinius Q of Syria. In Matthew M 2, we w read abo out the M Magi. Jesus s was proba ably a toddler by the tiime they arrrived.

Hero od the Grea at built Hero odion aroun nd 24 BCE a as both a palace an nd a fortress s. It sat on the flattene ed top of a h hill that rrose about 400 4 feet ab bove the surrounding terrain. t The e roof a and upper stories s of th he Herodion n no longer exist; the rremains of four f towers s, however, are still vis sible. Josep phus d describes th he Herodion n as follows s, "The fortr tress...is na aturally sstrong and very suitab ble for such a structure e, raised to a ((greater) he eight by the e hand of man and rou unded off in the sshape of a breast.� b At its intervals s it has roun nd ttowers....Within it are costly c royal apartmentts made forr ssecurity and d ornamentt at the sam me time (Ant. 15.324). Also, a according to o Josephus s, after Hero od died in Jericho, J hiss body w was taken to t the Herod dion and bu uried there "in a bier o of solid g gold studde ed with prec cious stones." (Ant. 17 7.191-99; W War 1.656-7 73).

The Herodion, to t the south h of Jerusallem in the JJudean hillss, is one of the top historical a and archeological sites s of Israel. Like some famous cou unterparts, we have o one person to tthank for this – King Herod (ruling g from 37-4 4 BCE), who o might be called "the Great" sim mply on tthe basis off his archite ectural achie evements.

But the t Herodio on is unique e even amo ong his othe er lavish cre eations, like e the Temp ple M Mount and Second Temple in Jerrusalem, the city and h harbor of C Caesarea, a and the fortrress at M Masada. So o what is so o special ab bout the He erodion? It’ss not just th hat Herod b built anotherr ssplendid bu uilding. He did d that many times. The T truly unique thing h here is thatt Herodion iis not b built on earllier occupation layers. Before Kin ng Herod arrrived at He erodion, nobody had e ever sseen anythiing special in that loca ation. There e literally wa as nothing g going on ou ut here in th he w wilderness.

Hero odion was built b in three e years, from 23-20 BC CE. With hiis usual exttraordinary m megaloman nia and ene ergetic willpower, Hero od complete ely changed d the natura al landscap pe in o order to elevate his pa alace to a lo ofty place. Because B it iis isolated a and much h higher than the ssurrounding g hilltops, th he hill is vis sible from a great dista ance. The u upper third o of the hill ha as b been artificiially superim mposed. In order to do o this, Hero od would ha ave had to llower a nea arby hill b by a third off its height.

Scien ntists have wondered why Herod d built this e exclusive pa alace comp plex. Locate ed in tthe desert, the upper palace p has a unique ciircular desig gn heavily fortified witth impenetrrable d double walls. It doesn't seem likely that he needed n ano other spa orr place to re est and to h have ffun. Becaus se he had those places already in n Masada, and his win nter palace was in the mild cclimate of Jericho. He sometimes s had to rule e, at least ssomewhat, so he spen nt ample tim me in JJerusalem and a Caesarrea, where he also had suitable rresidences..

A possible reason to build a fort was to defend t he palace. But there iss nothing to o d defend in th he nearby area. a Herod dion is too fa ar from Jerrusalem to b be useful on that pointt. And e even though h there was s a main road to the so outh passin ng through Herodion, tthe need fo or a another forttress was not n urgent because b the e eastern bo order of Isrrael was suffficiently de efended b by the Hasm monean cas stles that Herod H had re evamped. M Moreover, iif the castle e was reallyy of sstrategic va alue, Roman n army cam mps would have h guard ed it; but th hey haven'tt been found.

It the ereby follow ws that Hero odion must have been n erected fo or another p purpose. Ma any n now believe e that he bu uilt the palace so that he h could die e there. It iss more likely that Hero od 179

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p planned for his death and a the Herodion would be a monument to himself and d his burial site.

T This solution comes no ot just as a deus ex machina, m beccause there e are two a accounts in the b books by Jo osephus Fla avius, the Jewish J histo orian, who ttells us abo out Herod's death in Je ericho a and how his s coffin was s brought to o Herodion..

In a story s publis shed in Nattional Geog graphic, we are told tha at when He ebrew Unive ersity P Professor Ehud E Netzer and his co olleagues began b exca avating at th he site in 19 972, their original a aim was not to locate Herod's H tom mb. Over tim me, howeve er, Netzer'ss focus changed. Findiing the kking's burial site becam me his main n focus.

Early y accounts of Herod's funeral led scholars to o believe th hat the tomb b would be found a at the base of Herodion, but deca ades of sea arching the lower comp plex reveale ed nothing. In 2 2006, howe ever, Netzerr suggested d the team examine a seemingly out-of-placce section o of wall h halfway up the hill. Abo out a year later, l on Ap pril 27, 2007 7, diggers h hit upon a sslab of highq quality, high hly ornamen nted pink limestone. Further F exca avation revvealed a rem markably orrnate, rred stone sa arcophagus s – one fit only o for a king. "It's a ssarcophagu us we don't just see a anywhere," Netzer said d. "It is som mething very special." Herod's elu usive tomb had been ffound a and the sarcophagus is now being restored at a museu um in Jerussalem.

The remains of a huge ma arble stairca ase leading up to the b burial site h have also be een u uncovered, as well as an enormo ous area once thought to be a hip ppodrome b but now kno own to b be a staging g area for Herod's H fune eral proces ssion. Netze er's team th hinks a mon nument up to 78 ffeet tall may y have marrked the kin ng's tomb.

Mostt of the buriial site is no ow in ruins. It was mosst likely deliberately da amaged byy JJewish rebe els during th heir revolt against a the Roman Em mpire in the e late 60s A A.D. It is also o interesting that t the tea am found no o bones in the t tomb. Itt's highly un nlikely that Herod's rem mains w will ever be found. The ey also foun nd very bea autiful fresccos, like the e ones found in Pompe ey.

N was working at this site wh hen he lean ned on a sccaffolding ra ail that gave e way Dr. Netzer a and he fell head h first in nto the thea ater below. He passed d away the n next day in the hospita al at tthe age of 76.

7 In the photograph below, you will notice the edge o of a roof on the right ha and a above the railing. The roof is over the a area being excavated to the tomb b ssite of Hero od.

With Herod’s de eath, a long g p period of sta ability ende ed and trouble b began. Hero od’s son Arrcheleus ssucceeded him as King of Judah..

T Two years later, l the Romans b banished Archeleus an nd the coun ntry ccame underr direct Rom man rule. The T JJewish rebe els – or Zea alots – cconquered the Herodio on in 66 CE E, d defeating a garrison off Roman ssoldiers durring the Firs st Jewish R Revolt. Why y would a tiiny little cou untry rrevolt again nst the Rom man Empire?

B Because the temple vo oted to atta ack This small th heater was ffor visitors and aristoc cracy. It is also whe ere Dr. Netze er fell to his s death.

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R Rome, and the temple represente ed God’s work in your life. At the time, there e were two o other e empires on the planet that were capable c of taking t on R Rome and w winning. The e first was tthe H Han Dynastty. Although h there werre 12 million n Romans a at the time,, there were e 14 million n C Chinese. Ho owever, neither empirre knew the e other existted. The se econd empire was the P Parthian Em mpire in Bab bylon, wherre the Jews s came from m. The Partthians told tthe Zealotss that if tthey stood up u against Rome, they y would sup pport them.. Their armyy was a big g enough war m machine to challenge the t Romans. However, the Parth hians neverr showed up p to help an nd the JJews were heavily deffeated.

Altho ough Herod dion was co onquered ag gain by the Romans, it was not d defended byy Titus in 70 CE with the destrruction of Jerusalem, but a year llater by the e new goverrnor Lucilius B Bassus. Ho owever, Bas ssus did no ot use the pa alace and tthe site wass abandone ed until the S Second Jew wish Revoltt, when a grroup of Barr Kochba ussed it as a h hideout. Th hree years later, in 1 135 CE, the e Romans won w anothe er war leaving the site abandoned d once again. The B Byzantines occupied th he site during the fifth to seventh h centuries leaving four churches. After tthe Arab co onquest, He erodion onc ce again bec came quiett until a Bed douin tribe recently se ettled in tthe area.

own, one pa asses the th hree-story e east tower, which oncce guarded the Before going do ffortress. A double d wall runs underneath the tower and e encircles th he whole structure. Th his 181

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ccreated a ciircular hallw way on each floor as well w as open n bulwarks on the top.. The upperr floors h had loop-ho oles in the outer o wall.

If you u follow the e wall to the e west, you reach the w west tower.. It mirrors tthe east tow wer, e except that it was sma aller and is built b outside e the wall. M Modern ste eps created d by the a archaeologiists lead do own into the e building because b the e original en ntrance wass through th he b building. Th he area und der these stteps belong gs to the priivate roomss of Herod.

It is interesting to t considerr how desolate this are ea would ha ave been w when the He erodion w was built. It is an area that receives very little e rainfall. B But today it is like a Jerusalem su uburb.

T To the westt you can se ee the Olive e Mount rid dge. To the north is a d development where th he P Prime Minis ster of Israe el lives.

angular spa ace in the photo p above e was the ccourtyard, w which would d have The empty recta e enjoyed a nice n garden. The portic coes to the north and ssouth were e roofed – th he holes of the b beams are visible v in th he wall – an nd so would d have crea ated a pleassant shaded d terrace.

The first f room next n to the southern s po ortico was tthe salon, w where Hero od received his g guests and threw intim mate dinner parties. Josephus tells us that th he Roman e emperor's rrepresentattive Agrippa a was Herod's guest in n Herodion in 15 BCE.. The bench hes to the ssides of tthe walls arre not Herod d's. They belong to the e later churrch that was built on th his site. Beffore tthat, it had served s as a synagogu ue for the Ze ealots. Thiss first centu ury CE syna agogue is o one of tthe oldest synagogues s s in Israel.

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The middle section of the private quarters housed the unexcavated bedrooms. Against the north wall is the bathhouse. The entrance is through the large hot room, and then into a small round relaxing room, whose domed roof is the oldest in Israel. To protect the frescoes on the first three feet of the wall, the floor was raised. Actually, one would wish they could be protected in another way, without hiding them from the public.

The bath also includes a cold room (frigidarium), a tepid room (tepidarium), a hot room (caldarium) and a dressing room (poditerium). The size and prominence of the Roman-style bathhouse shows that Herod adopted the ways and habits of his protectors. Bathing the whole body was not originally a Jewish custom. The concept was first introduced by the Greeks, but it was frowned upon by many, including the Hasmonean.

During and immediately after Herod's time, things changed. Rabbi Hillel, a contemporary of Herod, spoke about keeping the body clean, while his rival Rabbi Shamai also agreed to an occasional wash. Whether the rabbis were in favor of wasting hours sitting in the bathhouse, engaging in business and gossip, playing games, is another matter, however. According to a modern study, the average Roman, or an adept of Rome like Herod, spent about three hours a day in the bathhouse. There was also a large sports complex below and a large stadium, but we don’t know what it was used for or how often Herod attended.

Herod’s Major Concerns Herod the Great had two major concerns in his life. The first was the people he ruled over. Because Herod was given his command by his friend Caesar Augustus, he was never quite sure if the people would support him. To keep the people working and happy, he created numerous public works programs. For example, when Herod visited the Hasmonean Temple in Jerusalem, he told the people, “Guys, I got to tell you, I have been all over the world and I have seen many temples and yours doesn’t cut it. If you want to have a real temple, I will show you how to build a real temple.” The people said, “Oh king, live forever, but we don’t exactly trust you. If you want to build us a new temple that will be fine, but this is what we want you to do. Build your temple over our temple, then excavate our temple from under your temple so we are never without a temple. And, oh, by the way, we don’t miss a sacrifice.”

So Herod did what they asked. Herod built elegant streets everywhere, but he was never less than eight hours from a fortress where he could escape to live out his days in hiding and comfort if things went bad.

Herod’s second concern was Cleopatra. Early in his reign, she would always receive a portion of his territory as a birthday gift. So he was always concerned about the large-nosed Egyptian lady to the south. Cleopatra must have been very alluring since she attracted both Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony, but the only picture we have of her is on a coin. She was one handsome woman! Unfortunately, we really only have a few stories about her.

In a sense, Herod understood people. During the Gulf War, King Hussein of Jordan liquidated many of his personal holdings around the world. He used the money for his people and to put a layer of gold on the Dome in Jerusalem. This was very smart. When an interviewer said, “King, you are such a good man.” Hussein replied, “Good man? Kings with starving people aren’t kings for very long.” Herod understood that if you kept people working and they had a chicken in the pot, they will be able to eat and live. If they could eat and live they would be less likely to revolt. So he kept the people working and he built some marvelous palaces. We saw only a few of these on this trip, but there are many more.

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The Herodion Synagogue The synagogue in the Herodion is a good visual for a setting like Luke 4. It was originally a triclinium – a banquet hall that was changed into a synagogue. Although Herod was not big on the synagogue, others in the palace used it. Columns run east to west and are on the north and south side of the synagogue. The door of a synagogue is always to the east, facing Jerusalem. In the synagogue you sit behind the columns. You stand for the reading of the word and sit for the teaching and message.

Luke 4 gives us a visual from which to learn. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, ’The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.’ And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

Remezim and Parables Jesus used remez (remezim in Hebrew) in his teaching. This means he gave clues, cues or hints to help people understand the Torah’s deeper meanings. These clues combine Greek philosophy and Jewish spiritually in a technique that has been widely used in Judaism across the centuries by early Rabbinic sages. This technique invites the reader of the scriptures to look beyond the simple meanings of the stories.

At the time, there were no chapters and verses. Genesis was comprised of 11 sections.

Genesis 1:1-2:3 was a prologue, and was then followed by 10 stories or accounts of stories.

Readers would learn the whole account by memory.

With a “remez” you take a line or a few sentences to represent the whole section. For example, Dan is with Pastor Reggie. Dan wants to take notes, but Pastor Reggie has the pen.

Dan would say “For God so loved the world, that he…” He what? He gave. A remez is a small portion of the story based on you knowing the rest of the story. Jesus and Paul used this technique all the time. They lift a snippet from the story but you are supposed to know the whole story. Anybody listening to a remezim without knowing the whole story would not understand the message, but when Pastor Reggie hears it, he completes the rest of the story and he gives Dan the pen.

In Luke 4, Jesus read a short portion of a Haphtarah reading that includes Isaiah 59, 60, and 61, and that reading says, the shoot, the branch, the Netzer, will bear a Messiah, and he is in Nazareth speaking to the Netzer clan. These are the hometown verses for Nazareth.

Remezim simply means I quote a piece of it, but I mean the whole of it.

Jesus used the remezim often, but Paul used it a lot. He would quote verse 1 but his point may be in verse 21. You went to school and you were supposed to know that. Although Jesus used the remez often, he also used the mashal (mashalim in Hebrew) or parable. There are several types of parable. There is the step parable, like in Matthew 13. Each parable builds on the previous parable, leading to the climax of the story. There is the chain parable, like Luke 15, where each illustration equals one thing.

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The palaces at Herodion and a Masada a had large e cisterns ussed for water storage. To p prevent bac cteria and algae a from contaminat c ing the watter, it was im mportant th hat these ho olding ttanks remaiined dark at a all times. Water stay ys clear and d pure if it iss flowing orr in darknesss.

Swimm ming Pool with w Island in the Mid ddle 185

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At the foot of the hill was the Lower city of Herodion, which boasted a large pool for swimming or boating. In contrast to the water supply of upper Herodion, the water for the pool did not come from rainwater, but was brought in from Solomon's Pools in Jerusalem. Because Solomon’s Pools could supply up to 400,000 cubic meters a year, the water in the pool was always fresh. A few remains of the original water channel have been found on the route from Jerusalem to Herodion. The artificial island at the pool's center is thought to have once sported three floors – a nice place to enjoy the breeze and eat a bite, or just relax.

Double retaining walls flank two-and-a-half sides of the pool and the adjacent large garden. The walls were once colonnaded and roofed, serving as a long hall from which the pool and garden could be appreciated.

The building with a domed roof in the bottom left corner of the pool is another bathhouse. Behind it lies the small city of Herodion. You can also see the island in the center of the pool. ***

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Messianic Expectations and Disappointments Introduction Preparation for Passion Week Begins Here During the last six months of Jesus’ ministry, he came up to Jerusalem four times. He first came for the Feast of the Tabernacles or Sukkott (John 7 – first part of 10), followed by the Feast of Dedication or present day Feast of Lights/Hanukkah (John 10:22-42), the raising of Lazarus (John 11), and finally for Passover (Passion Week). He never left by foot, but by cloud (John 12-21). For our purpose, we will be starting in John chapter 12 through the end of the Gospel of John.

Jesus came from Perea to a region north of Jerusalem and stayed at a village named Ephraim (Luke 9:51-56) that was home to a number of Samaritans. When the Samaritans did not believe in him, what did Peter and John say to Jesus? “Why don’t you call down fire and make them toast.” That statement revealed the prejudice that the disciples still showed toward the Samaritans. Although the Samaritans had expressed interest following the woman at the well event, Jesus then left the area and did not return for two years. He did not call, text, write or fax and the people lost interest! But when the Jews around the Galilee rejected Jesus, the attitude of the disciples toward them was different.

When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem; and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him. But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem. When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But He turned and rebuked them, [and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”]

The Ascension of Jesus We don’t know exactly where Jesus ascended into heaven, but it was on the Mount of Olives. We know that it was a Sabbath’s Day walk. There are three places that claim the ascension, but we don’t know the exact location. The Church of the Holy Ascension was taken

by Saladin in 1187 and converted into a mosque and remains such today. It contains what is traditionally the last footprint of Jesus on earth before he ascended into heaven.

Two other places claim to be the location of the ascension. Constantine's mother, Helena, built a church under the modern Paternoster Church to commemorate this event. A much later tradition connects the Russian Orthodox Church of the Ascension to Christ's return into heaven.

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M Mountt of Olives It is 9:00 9 a.m. and this is our o first stop p of the dayy. The Galile ee, the Jord dan River a and the rrising sun are a to our ba acks. We are a on the Mount M of Oliives looking g west towa ard the M Mediterrane ean Sea. The Mount of Olives O (also Mount Oliv vet), is a mo ountain ridg ge in easterrn Jerusalem with ffour peaks running r from m north to south s – Mo ount Scopuss, the next two peaks are Olivet, and tthe fourth one is the Mount M of Corruption, wh here Solom mon set up p pagan temp ples for his wives ((1 Kings 1-1 11). The hig ghest of the e peaks rise es to 2,683 ft.

Sepa arated from m the Easterrn Hill (the Temple T Mo ount and the e City of Da avid) by the e K Kidron Valle ey, the Mou unt of Olives has alway ys been an n important feature in JJerusalem'ss la andscape. It is named d for the oliv ve groves that once co overed its sslopes. The e Mount of O Olives iss associate ed predomin nantly with Jewish and d Christian traditions b but also con ntains seve eral ssites importtant in Islam m. The mou unt has bee en used as a Jewish ce emetery forr more than n 3,000 yyears and holds h appro oximately 15 50,000 grav ves. The ne ecropolis on n the southe ern ridge, the lo ocation of the t modern n village of Silwan, S was s the burial place of th he city's mo ost importan nt ccitizens in th he period of o the Biblical kings. On the upperr slope can n be found tthe tradition nal T Tomb of the e Prophets Haggai, Ze echariah an nd Malachi.

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The Mount of Olives O is also o referred to t in the Ta almud as the e “Mount off Anointment.”

O Olives are used u for ma any purpose es. As you compress tthe olives w with two sto ones, olive jjuice is ssqueezed out. o The verry top layerr of that juic ce is olive o oil. The oil frrom the firsst press – or first sstone – is called c Extra Virgin Oliv ve Oil. If you u think like an RJ, this first fruit w would be the e part yyou give to God or to the t temple.

When you doub ble the weig ght by addin ng a second d stone and d also doub ble the time e of the ccompressio on, you get the oil that will be used for consu umption or o ointments – things tha at go in yyour body. When W you add a a third stone and press the o olive for eig ght hours, th he oil increa ases in lyye but decrreases in qu uality of tas ste. This will be your la amp oil. Wh hen you add d the fourth h or last sstone and le et it press overnight, o you y get oil that is even higher in lyye and lowe er in qualityy. If you rremember, Palmolive is i palm oil and a olive oil combined d to make ssoap. Soap in the Bible e was ffor lathering g, but if you ur body was s well oiled, you were cclean. So th he greasy look with oily hair w was all the rage! he Mount off Olives/Anointment be ecomes an n important place beca ause oil wass also So th a holy placce. Think off it this way. It u used to ano oint a priestt or a holy thing, or to inaugurate i b becomes a Mount of Preparation P . When peo ople came ffrom the Ga alilee, they came up th he O Olive ridge to get to the city. Wha at would the ey be doing g? They were singing tthe Psalms of A Ascent – 12 20-134 and about whe ere they were going. The whole jo ourney to th he city was p preparation for their arrrival at the city. Then the songs cchanged. T They are no ow singing tthe H Hallelujah Psalms P – ha allelujah we e made it allive to Jerussalem song gs – Psalms 113-118.

Psalm m 113:3. Frrom the risiing of the sun to its se etting the na ame of the LORD is to o be p praised. You can stand d on top of the Mount of Olives a and watch th he sun rise over the Jo ordan M Mountains and a set in the water west w of Jopp pa.

Psalm m 114:1–2 When Isra ael went forrth from Egyypt, the hou use of Jaco ob from a pe eople o of strange la anguage, Judah J became His san nctuary, Isra ael, His dom minion.

Psalm m 116:15 Precious P in the sight of o the LORD D is the dea ath of His godly ones. Why tthat line? As you descend the Mo ount of Olive es, you passs a ccemetery th hat is more than 3,000 years old – the final rresting plac ce of many patriarchs of o the land. When an e elder in the comm munity, or ra abbi, died, there t was a larger burrial sstructure. When W people reached the t base off the valley and sstarted up toward the temple, t the ey sang.

Psalm m 117:1–2 Praise the LORD, all you y nationss; e extol him, all a you peop ples. For gre eat is his lo ove toward us, a and the faith hfulness off the LORD endures fo orever. Praiise tthe LORD. Now that you ha ave made it to the tem mple, you be egin tto sing the last l Psalm. Psalm 118 8: 22–24 Th he stone the e b builders reje ected has become b the e cornerston ne; the LOR RD h has done th his, and it is s marvelous s in our eye es. This is th he d day the LOR RD has ma ade; let us rejoice r and be glad in iit.

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Dominius Flevit – The Lord Wept To the right is Dominus Flevit, which translates from Latin as “The Lord Wept.” It was fashioned in the shape of a teardrop to symbolize the tears of Christ. Here, according to Luke 19, Jesus became overwhelmed by the beauty of the Second Temple while walking toward the city of Jerusalem. Predicting its future destruction and the diaspora of the Jewish people, he wept openly (Luke 19:37-42). He was weeping over their non-belief and their lack of faith.

Jesus says it, but we refuse to believe it.

This is a new church. During construction, a cave was found below the site with ossuaries (bone boxes) that date back to 63 BC–70 AD – the time of Jesus and Paul. They were cut from stone and you can see them in the Israel Museum today. On the base of the ossuaries are notes written by the stone cutters in Hebrew, not Aramaic or Greek. Randy said that when he went to seminary they were all taught that Jesus spoke Aramaic, Greek and maybe some Hebrew. But his craft was a stone worker, and a contemporary stone worker made his notes in Hebrew. Why is that important? What you learn here is that the Hebrew language was probably much more widespread than what you are taught in seminary in the USA. What this means is that when they discover something here and it gets published and taught some 25–40 years later, it takes another 25 years before it reaches the seminaries back in the United States. In other words, seminaries in the US obtain the information approximately 50 to 75 years later, which is behind the learning curve.

It seems that Jesus spoke a lot more Hebrew than we have been taught to believe. We were taught that he spoke Aramaic because it was a universal language. When he hung on the cross he said, “Eloi, Eloi,” which is Aramaic. However, the people thought he was calling Elijah. What if he said, “Eli, Eli,” which is Hebrew?

When Jesus is on the beach after the resurrection, he asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?” Do you think they spoke in Greek, Aramaic or Hebrew? Two Jews sitting on a north shore beach were probably not speaking Greek to one another. When the writers were inspired to write their books, they wrote in Greek. In Hebrew, the words “I love chocolate” mean the same as “I love my wife”. In Hebrew there is just one word for love, not three like there are in Greek.

There are two layers to the Gospel. The first is what Jesus said to the person sitting next to him. The second layer is what the Holy Spirit reminded the gospel writer to write some 25 to 30 years later – the original saying in a different language was more complex than the original. The richness of the more complex language gives God an opportunity to teach us deeper meanings than in the original language.

Do you want to turn the head of God? Do you want God to look at your life and make a difference eternally? Abraham did not just reach thousands of people for God. Abraham believed God. Before you start brokering, you need to believe. You cannot give away that which you do not possess.

Down the hill from Dominus Flevit is the White Russian Orthodox church of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, built by the Czar of Russia. We are not aware of this site having anything to do with Mary Magdalene except to remember her.

Down the hill on street level is The Church of Gethsemane. Across the street is the Church of St. Stephen, which sits in the middle of the Kidron Valley. We know that Stephen was stoned to death “outside the city walls.” Although we think this event occurred outside the north wall – the Calvary side – this is where it is remembered.

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Moonrise ov ver Mount off Olives

As yo ou move up p the slope to the city wall, you w will find a Mu uslim ceme etery. The g gold D Dome of the e Rock is a shrine loca ated on the e Temple M ount in the Old City off Jerusalem m. The sstructure ha as been refu urbished many m times since s its initial comple etion in 691 CE at the o order o of Umayyad d Caliph Ab bd al-Malik. The site's significance e stems fro om religiouss traditions rregarding th he rock, kno own as the Foundation n Stone, at its heart. A According to o Islamic tra adition, tthe rock is the t spot fro om which Muhammad ascended tto Heaven a accompanied by the a angel G Gabriel. It is s not a mos sque. It is a memory site. The mo osque is at the south w wall with a g gray d dome. The Al A Aqsa Mo osque was built betwe een 709 and d 715 AD by Caliph al--Waleed, th he son o of Abd al-M Malik — the man who constructed c the Dome of the Rock. This mossque was h heavily d damaged in n the earthq quake of 74 49 that destroyed Scythopolis. It w was redesig gned in abo out 7 755.

Goin ng along the e north wall, there werre some han nging rugs.. The color of the wall cchanged. This section was added d by Herod the Great a as one big porch. The porch had three le o upper leve els, one gro ound level and a one be elow ground d. Going do own the sou uth wall evels – two tthere is a se et of stairs. Those step ps brought people into o the Temple from the south. In frront of tthose steps s are ritual baths, b wherre people spiritually cle eansed the emselves be efore going g into tthe Temple.

At the time of Je esus, the Temple T was s the largestt in the worrld. The Mo ount of Olive es is a g good vantag ge point to see the Te emple footprint. Start a at the corne er of the sou uth wall and d move 191

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all the way up to the scaffolding. That is the 1,560-foot ancient Temple retaining wall (beyond the trees in the photo). Now follow a line to the minaret north of the gold dome. That marks the northwest corner. The north wall was 840 feet long. In effect, you are looking at an 840foot by 1,560-foot platform on which the Temple once stood.

The Temple that once stood on the site was about 20 percent taller than the Dome of the Rock. It was very ornate and as people came across the Mount of Olives singing and looked down into the city, they sang in Psalm 115:1 Not to us, LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.

It was all about preparation to enter God’s Temple. Walking up the steps on the south side, all of the stairs are a different size to make people think before going into God’s Temple.

The Old City of David is to our left on the fourth hill of the Mount Olives range. Solomon moved across the valley to the site of the Temple Mount.

Garden of Gethsemane Early Christian pilgrims located the Garden of Gethsemane at the bottom of the slope of the Mount of Olives opposite the Temple Mount. Byzantine, Crusader and a modern church were subsequently built on the site where it is believed that Jesus prayed to the Father hours before his crucifixion. The modern Church of All Nations has a beautiful mosaic on its facade.

It is also known as the Church of Agony, or the Church at Gethsemane, which is probably how we will remember it.

Helena, the mother of Constantine, wanted to come here and turn the Christian message into a creed. Most of us are creedal. Jews are not. You don’t go into a synagogue and ask for a doctrinal statement. You will not get one. But we are Greek in thinking, so we have creeds – bullet points. Helena wanted to turn the church into bullet points.

Helena said the message of Jesus is about six key things.

1. He was born of a virgin, so let’s build a church in Bethlehem.

2. He suffered under Pontius Pilate.

3. He was crucified.

4. He died.

5. He was buried. Points two to four take place at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher – a Helena church.

6. He ascended into heaven. Helena built a church under the modern Pater Noster Church to commemorate this event. The Pater Noster Church also has the Disciples Prayer (Our Father, who art in Heaven…) displayed in most languages of the world. So Helena built a church to commemorate his birth, death and ascension.

We don’t know exactly where Jesus ascended into heaven, but it was somewhere on the Mount of Olives. We know that it was a Sabbath’s Day walk. There are two other places that claim the ascension. The Dome of the Ascension, originally a small church built in 392 and called the Church of the Holy Ascension, commemorates Christ’s ascension to Heaven. It was later renovated in the 11th century by Crusaders and then captured by Saladin in 1187. It is now, ironically, a mosque and contains what is traditionally the last footprint of 192

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JJesus on ea arth. A muc ch later trad dition conne ects the Russsian Ortho odox Churcch of the A Ascension to t Christ's return r into heaven. h

This is the façad de of the Church C at Ge ethsemane e. On the fa açade is a p picture of Th he F Father sittin ng on the th hrone pointing a mirrorr made of g gold down to o the Alpha a and Omeg ga, w who is pourring himselff out at Gethsemane. Around A him m are people e of the age es who are e sstunned and d shocked because th hey prophes sied this evvent. They a all warned o of the destrruction o of the Mess siah. Standiing on each h column grroup are sta atues of the e four Gosp pel writers – M Matthew, Mark, M Luke and a John – with books s open to te ell you the sstory.

Pictu ure an olive garden at night for the setting off John 18. W We are in a an olive grove.

T This is a pu ublic olive press. So wh hat is going g on? The fo fourth presss which lastts all night. You d don’t leave anything unattended all a night. Yo ou camp ou ut beside th he press overnight, colllect yyour oil the next morning and then leave so that someb body else ccan press hiis or her olives.

T This is Pass sover week k. The popu ulation incre eases abou ut 150 perce ent for this w week. Jesu us and tthe boys are e staying with w Mary an nd Martha in Bethany.

T The Fou ur People e You Should Know K Fro om Beth hany Therre are four people p you should kno ow from Be thany – Ma ary, Martha, Lazarus a and S Simon, the former lepe er. A coppe er scroll from m the Dead d Sea Scrolls says there were thrree le M of Ollives. About 35 years a ago, one off the burial sites marke ed for a eper coloniies on the Mount le eper colony y had to be moved forr a road pro oject. The m medical com mmunity tessted the bon nes of ssome peoplle who had died there, and found d that not on ne had leprrosy. Lepro osy in the Bible is a broad term m for anyon ne with a sk kin disease. In biblical days, astro ology and a astronomy w were 193

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considered the same thing. As science advanced, they split. Medicine at that time was full of superstitions. It’s important to understand that no cure exists to this day for leprosy. Leprosy itself does not kill you. The disease kills the nerves so that you are no longer sensitive to the things you are doing.

Simon, a former leper, lived in Bethany near a leper colony. Randy surmises that, as a former leper, he is a “caregiver” for those with “leprosy.” Jesus stayed on the east side of the Mount of Olives at Bethany. Every day during this Passion Week, he left Bethany and walked to the temple and back. That journey took time. On the Sabbath (Saturday) before crucifixion, Jesus was in Bethany. Two key events took place that day – the anointing by Mary of the feet of Jesus and the plot against Lazarus. The original plot wasn’t against Jesus. It was against Lazarus. When you read John 12 you learn that a large crowd came to see Lazarus. In other words, many people may be attracted to your Savior by seeing what he did in your life. John writes that that the chief priest made plans to kill Lazarus as well as Jesus because many people were putting their faith in Jesus - Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him. Randy thinks Jesus spent the entire day in Bethany.

On the Sunday before the crucifixion, Jesus left Bethany and headed toward Jerusalem. He reached Bethphage at the east side of the Mount of Olives and sent two disciples to get a donkey.

Luke 19:28–31 After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.’

Zechariah. 9: Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Zechariah told the people what to look for. The people should have known their king was here, but more than that, Jesus told them the specific day he would arrive.

In Daniel chapter 9, Daniel is reading Jeremiah and he sees that the exile will be over in 70 years. Sixty-eight years have passed. In two years they will be out of here, so he begins to pray and ask God if there is something they need to do to get ready to return. God sends an angel to tell Daniel that his prayer is answered. However, Daniel is also given a lot of information that he did not ask for, and is told to write it down. We call this the 70-weeks prediction. The angel tells Daniel, “I’m not only going to tell you when you are going back to Jerusalem, rebuild Jerusalem, but from the date of March 14, 445 BC to the date the walls, the gate and the moat are scheduled to be finished, if you will count 163,880 days, I (Jesus) will be there. The clock starts when you start rebuilding.”

So when Jesus came down the side of Mount Olives, he was thinking, “I told you thousands of days ago when I would be here. Why aren’t you ready?”

When Jesus came into Jerusalem, the crowds were waving palm branches and shouting “Hosanna, Hosanna”. Translated, that means “Get rid of Rome. Get rid of Rome”.

And they threw the palm branches down in front of him.

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Luke e 19:39–40 And some of the Pha arisees from m among the multitude e said unto h him, ““Master, reb buke thy dis sciples”. An nd he answ wered and ssaid unto the em, “I tell yyou that, if tthese sshould hold d their peace, the stone es would im mmediately cry out.”

The Pharisees were w asking g Jesus to quiet the crrowds. The ey knew tha at if a revolt sstarted, it would w bring the Roman n army down on them. But Jesus said that if the stoness were q quiet, they would w cry out. o By this he meant that if he tolld them to b be quiet, they would b be in tthe middle of o a rock fig ght, a riot, and a then the e Romans w would arrivve. He said he couldn’tt ask tthem to do what w they wanted w him m to do. He rode into th he city. In Jo ohn 12:20 tthe Greekss w wanted to see s him.

T The Currsing of the Fig Tree T On Monday, M Jesus walked d to Jerusalem and alo ong the wayy he cursed d a fig tree.

A According to Matthew 21, I tell yo ou the truth,, if you havve faith and do not dou ubt, not onlyy can yyou do wha at was done e to the fig tree, t but als so you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yyourself into o the sea,’ and a it will be b done. If you believe e, you will rreceive wha atever you a ask for in prayer.

The fig f tree storry is mentio oned again in Mark 11. The next day as theyy were leavving B Bethany, Je esus was hu ungry. Seeing in the distance d a fifig tree in le eaf, he wentt to find outt if it h had any fruit. When he e reached itt, he found nothing bu ut leaves, be ecause it w was not the season ffor figs. The en he said to t the tree, “May no on ne ever eatt fruit from yyou again.”” Jesus’ discciples h heard him say s it.

This is what the e story is really about. At 2,500 fe eet above sea level, a fig shoot sh hould ssprout at the same tim me as a leaf. At this lev vel, you sho ould never ssee a fig without a leaff or a le eaf withoutt a fig. So when w Jesus came acro oss a tree w with a leaf, b but no fruit,, something g was w wrong and he h cursed it. In one go ospel, the le eaf withered d at once. IIn another, it withered the n next day. Is s there a co onflict? No. Because no ot everybod dy will hearr the story e exactly the same w way, or at th he same tim me. It is no different to o our group traveling w with Randy. If we are a asked tto repeat a “teaching session” s we e had last week, w we wiill each havve our own unique verssion. It iss not a con nflict. That is s just the w way crowds s work.

But what w is the message?

T That Jesus doesn’t like e trees?

N No. Jesus is s the consu ummate tteacher. The point in both b stories iss the same e. You shou uld never ssee a fig tre ee without any a fruit.

W We will go into the tem mple where yyou will see e people witth all of the le eaves of re eligion, but none of the e ffruits of real faith. Jesu us is tteaching an nd preparing g them for w what they are a going to e experience when they get inside tthe temple – lots of lea aves, but vvery little fru uit.

We need n to be careful, ttoo. Our chu urches can get the same way. What W begins in church a as a passio on for God e ends 195

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up as program maintenance – lots of leaves but very little fruit. A church is not about the pastor and the music. It is the people and the passion that created that church in the first place. It is not just the pastor on Sunday and police directing traffic in and out of the parking lot. It is you doing your part, preparing during the week for worship to have worship occur in that room on Sunday.

John 18: When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was an olive grove, and he and his disciples went into it.

Some versions of the Bible say this was a garden, but it was not. The garden was added because tourists kept asking, “Where is the garden?” It was an olive grove, not a garden. You should have in your mind a mental picture of an olive grove with a public olive press.

Although it can take an olive tree 30 to 40 years to start producing good fruit, the tree can live for more than 1,100 years. It’s prime production period, however, is about 700 years.

Some accounts say that these trees were here at the time of Jesus, while others will say the olive trees were cut down during the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. They are both right.

When an olive tree is cut down, it does not die, but will sprout and grow up on the outside of the stump, thus leaving a hollowed out area in the center

What Does Waving an Olive Branch Really Mean?

When you see people waving an olive branch on CNN and the announcer says it means peace, he or she is wrong. It does not. When you plant an olive seed, it takes 40 years to produce good olives. So you plant an olive tree for your children. When Noah sent out a dove and it returned with an olive branch, it did not mean peace because there was no war. It means posterity, that there is a place for your children. When someone waves an olive branch, it means that my children are going to live here.

Here is the setting in John 18. It is Thursday night. In John 13 –17, John remembers how much Jesus had been talking and teaching the disciples. He had washed the disciple’s feet. He had even told them that it is better if he goes away, but another one, a Comforter, will come and dwell inside of them. John18:1 When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley.

Why would John write that they crossed the Kidron Valley? They had just finished the evening meal. There was something different about Jesus. It was Passover Week. There were sacrifices going on at the temple. The wash in the valley was full of blood and water. The smell of death was in the air. John was building a drama. So they walked over the wash – or Brook Kidron in some translations – to an olive grove with a public press called Gat-Smene, which means “oil press”, Gethsemane. Jesus asked the disciples if they would pray with him.

He took Peter, James and John and asked them to keep watch. Jesus went to pray and the disciples went to sleep. He came back after an hour and said, “Could you not keep watch for an hour?” He left a second time. Matthew 26: He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, “O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.”

When Jesus returned, he was sweating profusely. When the Bible says he was “sweating great drops of blood” It does not mean that he was bleeding, however. It is a simile or a comparison. He was soaking wet with perspiration. He was being pressed at the place of the oil press and what came out of him was the weight of what he was about to do.

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The pattern of prayer p is he ere. “O my Father, F if th his cup mayy not pass a away from m me, e except I drin nk it, thy wiill be done.”” In other words, w what do you wa ant? God told us to askk for w what we wa ant. But wha at I really want w is whatt you want because th hat is what I need. Tha at is the p pattern of prayer for a believer.

The third t time th hey woke up, u they woke to a larg ge crowd off men armed with swords and cclubs. John 18:3 –8 “Ju udas then, having rece eived a ban nd of men a and officerss from the cchief p priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with la anterns and d torches an nd weapon ns. Jesus ttherefore, knowing k all things that should com me upon him m, went forrth, and said d unto them m, ““Whom see ek ye?” The ey answered d him, “Jesus of Nazarreth.” Jesuss saith unto o them, “I a am he.”

T They came to arrest alll of them, but b by Jesu us saying “I am he” it fo forced his a arrest and le et his d disciples go o free. And Judas also o, which bettrayed him, stood with them. As ssoon then a as he h had said un nto them, “I am he”, the ey went backward, an nd fell to the e ground. T Then asked he tthem again,, “Whom se eek ye?” An nd they said d, “Jesus off Nazareth.” Jesus ansswered, “I h have ttold you tha at I am he: ifi therefore ye seek me e, let these e go their wa ay.”

Jesu us said to th hem, every day I have been in the e temple an nd you have e not laid a hand o on me, and now at night you com me. Isn’t this s ironic? Mo ost of the m men that arrrived to arre est JJesus were Romans. They T did no ot know wha at was goin ng on in the e religious w world of the e Jews.

T They did no ot know who o Jesus wa as and need ded someon ne to point him out. Ju udas pointss him East is a kiss of peace o out with a kiss. k The no ormal kiss greeting g in the t Middle E e. This wass a anything bu ut a kiss of peace, p how wever. Jesus was then n arrested a and taken, ffirst to the h house o of Annas, and then to Caiaphas.

Metal doorrs with olive tree designs s and cup sh haped altar w with throne border.

The church at Gethseman G e was built in 1927 on n top of two others and d is one of R Randy’s fav vorites. It is part of a new wave in n church co onstruction tthat actuallyy teaches a about JJesus. Everrything about this churrch, from th he façade o on the outsid de to the da arkness on the inside, tries to capture the event that t took place here. Itt is intentionally dark inside beca ause 197

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tthe event it remembers s takes plac ce at night. The doorss are metal with an olivve tree design.

T The altar is created in the shape of a cup. The metal bo order aroun nd the altarr is made to o rresemble th horns. The artwork a in the t church is all in line e with the evvent.

S St. Pe eter in Gallic cantu Churc ch

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The Church of Saint S Peterr in Gallican ntu is a Rom man Catholic Church located on tthe e eastern slop pe of Moun nt Zion, just outside the e city of Jerrusalem. It is operated d by a Frencch C Catholic ord der called “T The Assum mptionist Fa athers”. The e church takkes its nam me from the Latin w word "Gallic cantu," mea aning cock--crow. This is in comm memoration of Peter's ttriple rejection of JJesus "... be efore the cock c crows thrice" (Ma ark 14:30).

The building is also a believe ed to be on ne of two sp pots that cla aim to be th he correct lo ocation o of the High Priest Caia aphas' palac ce. Is it? We W don’t kno ow, but we have seven n pieces of e evidence th hat lead us to t believe so. s Accordin ng to the Pilgrim of Bo ordeaux in h his Itinerarium B Burdigalens se, "...going g up from th he Pool of Siloe S to Mou unt Zion on ne would co ome acrosss the H House of th he Priest Ca aiaphas."

The other locatiion is an Arrmenian site e toward th he top of the e hill, which h also has ssome g good argum ments to sup pport its cla aim. The po oint, howeve er, is that JJesus was q questioned ssomewhere e on this hilll. If this is th he palace of o Caiaphass, it sits on top of the ccourtyard w where P Peter denie ed Jesus an nd over the palace of Caiaphas.

C Exca avation as a science began in 186 60, so we w were really only 150 ye ears into it, when e excavation on the site began in 1912. The te echniques u used would d have been n crude by today’s sstandards. This T church h was redes signed in 20 000 and fun nctions as both a worsship site an nd a ttourist site. Glass sepa arates the worship w from m the tourisst, so we ge et to do botth at the same ttime. On an n even lowe er level therre is a succession of ccaves from tthe Second d Temple pe eriod.

S Since tradition places the palace of Caiapha as on this siite, many b believe that Jesus mayy have b been impris soned in one of these undergroun nd crypts affter his arre est.

The ceilling of St Pe eter in Galliicantu Churrch.

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This church is unique because it is devoted to people who failed. Jesus pre-arranged the place for his last supper. Luke writes in chapter 22:7–13 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.” “Where do you want us to prepare for it?” they asked. He replied, “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large room upstairs, all furnished. Make preparations there.” They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.

Peter and John entered the room arguing about where to sit. The rule is that you sit in descending order of importance. Jesus had already discussed this concept with them back in Luke 14 – go to the lowest place and be brought up in honor rather than sit high and get moved down. Jesus had to be thinking, “Guys, will you ever learn?” Jesus knew he had only a few minutes to spend with them. They didn’t know it was the last supper. They thought it was just supper. The last part they figured out later. John 13 – 17 all plays out that evening.

Matthew refers to Jesus as the host. Whoever is in the low seat should get up and wash the feet of the others. Jesus is waiting to see who would do it. No one gets up. So in Luke 22:25–26 he hints, “You should not lord over the people as the Gentiles do, but be servants. The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.”

John 13:3–9 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. Jesus comes to Peter who is sitting in the low seat.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

Then Jesus says, in John 14:1–4 ”Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. “ Jesus is telling them, “I’m going to go away, but I leave you bread, and the cup, the engagement symbol, and I will return later. But you do not know when. You just know the signs of the time.”

In John 15:1–4, Jesus continues. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.

He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes] so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”

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Jesus is saying that if a branch does not bear fruit, he will help it. He will lift it up. And if it still does not bear fruit, he will prune it away, and he will use it one time. Sadly, he cannot use it over and over, but he will use it one time. That one time is to be burned.

Jesus continued to teach to them. Then they left. They walked back, crossing over the blood and water Brook Kidron, with death in the air. We have the Gethsemane setting, the arrest and Jesus was taken before Annas. Annas is old, it is late, and he sends Jesus to his son-in-law Caiaphas, both of the household of Hanan. In the Jewish record of the Talmud, these are not good people. They are running the bazaars of the temple.

Although Jesus was not put on trial by the Jews, he was questioned by them. In the morning, they took him to the Sanhedrin, but the star witness had hanged himself. Eventually, they decided to remand him into Roman custody. Meanwhile, back in Rome, Sejanus had just attempted to take over the throne of Tiberius. Pilate received a letter that said any insurrection needed to be squashed immediately. In other words, Pilate has a free hand to do whatever he needs to do because Tiberius is on a two-year (31–33 CE) rant.

The insurrection was stopped. Sejanus was killed and Jesus was cut off by Pontius Pilate. Jesus was questioned by six people – Annas, Caiaphas, Sanhedrin, Pilate, and then Antipas. He was then sent back to Pilate.

This church celebrates redemption from failure. Here is a picture of the Last Supper – failure to serve. Jesus was in Caiaphas’ house and Peters denied him for a third time. And Jesus “gazed on him.” Peter just blew discipleship 101. In the next picture, they were tied up and blindfolded Jesus, slapped him, playing the “who hit you?” game – Deu.13.

What is the evidence for this being the right location? The excavation says it is a palatial building on a main road – a street in the New Testament. It is near baths. The priest needed to be ritually clean and so did the people seeing him. The archaeologist of 1912 said these were probably ritual baths that were later adapted into Roman baths. It is venerated; it is remembered by the early church. It is near a milling complex. Why is this important? For making “the showbread.” Showbread for the temple had a strict set or rules and laws that needed to be followed.

Plus, a full set of liquid and dry measures was found on this location. Why is that important? The High Priest was an agronomist. He checked the scales to make sure of their accuracy. And last a “Corban” (sacrificial items) lintel was found here – all things that would be needed by a High Priest.

John 18: 15–16 Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard, 16 but Peter had to wait outside at the door.

This is interesting. John was the other disciple. He was recognized and let in to the courtyard, but Peter was not. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the servant girl on duty and brought Peter in. Why was Peter one of them and John was not?

John 18:17 – 18 “You aren’t one of this man’s disciples too, are you?” she asked Peter. He replied, “I am not.” This is the first denial at the gate. It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.

John 18: 25–27 Meanwhile; Simon Peter was still standing there warming himself. So they asked him, “You aren’t one of his disciples too, are you?” He denied it, saying, “I am not.”

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This is the second denial.6 One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, “Didn’t I see you with him in the garden?” Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow.

Malchus was a temple guard. Malchus lost an ear because of Peter. Peter was a fisherman and not a swordsman. He went for the head and got the ear instead. While they were moving Jesus on a staircase to a holding chamber, Peter was challenged a third time.

As Peter yet again denied Jesus, their eyes met. In the background a rooster crows. Peter failed discipleship 101. This was the third denial.

Peter ran away and wept bitterly. But that is not the end of the story. Redemption brings us from failure to faith. On a Galilee beach, John 21: When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

Peter, I am not done with you. I am killing your old life to give you a new life. Stop being a fisherman. Build relationships with people and become a shepherd. We remember the failure of Peter, but that is not the whole story. The complete story of Peter is the redemption.

Everything in Peter’s life happened in threes: three denials; three people come to see him in Joppa from Cornelius; three people made the inner circle of Jesus (Peter, John, and James); and three times Jesus asked him, “Do you love me?”

It is the same Peter that denied he knew Jesus three times that will stand in the courtyard of the temple and say, “You killed the Prince of life” (Acts 3:15). What is the difference between the Peter that wept bitterly and the Peter who spoke in the courtyard? It is The Holy Spirit, whose objective is to dramatically change you. If people do not have a heart for God, nothing is going to happen. There needs to be excitement and passion for God. In the end, these 11 men gave their all for Christ.

The Thursday evening that Jesus was arrested, he spent his last night alone having watched all of his disciples run away in fear and Peter deny him. We don’t know for sure that this is where Jesus spent his last night, but we do know it was on this hill. If it was not here, then it certainly is within a few hundred feet of here. Jewish law says you cannot try anyone at night, so Jesus was retained overnight, very possibly in the holding room below in the basement of the palace of Caiaphas.

So what might have gone through the mind of our Savior as he spent his last night tied up alone somewhere before he was crucified? One of the truly special moments of this trip occurred here, when Randy read Psalm 88 as we stood in that ”holding cell” where Jesus may have spent his last night.

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P Psalm 88 O LORD, God G of my salvation, I have h cried out o day a and night be efore you. Let my pra ayer come before b yyou; Incline e your ear to o my cry.

F For my soul is full of trroubles, and d my life dra raws near tto the grave e. I am coun nted with th hose who go g down to tthe pit; I am m like a man n who has no n strength, Adrift a among the dead, Like the slain who w lie in the e grave, W Whom you remember no more, And A who are e cut off ffrom your hand.

Y You have la aid me in th he lowest piit, in darkne ess, in the d depths. You ur wrath lies s heavy upo on me, and d you have a afflicted me e with all your waves. Selah S Y You have put p away my y acquainta ances far fro om me.

Y You have made m me an n abominatiion to them m; I am sshut up, and d I cannot get g out. My y eye wastes away b because of affliction.

L LORD, I have called daily d upon you; y I have stretched s o out m my hands to o you. Will you y work wonders w forr the dead?

S Shall the de ead arise an nd praise you? y Selah S Shall your lo oving-kindn ness be dec clared in the grave? O Or yyour faithfullness in the e place of destruction? d ? Shall yourr w wonders be e known in the t dark? And A your rig ghteousnesss in the land of o forgetfuln ness?

But to you I have cried d out, O LO ORD, and in n the mornin ng m my prayer comes c befo ore you. LORD, why do o you cast o off m my soul?

W Why do you u hide your face from me? m I have been affliccted a and ready to t die from my m youth; I suffer yourr terrors; I am distrau ught. Your fierce f wrath h has gone over me; Y Your terrors s have cut me m off. The ey came aro ound me alll d day long lik ke water; the ey engulfed d me altoge ether. Loved d one and friend you have put farr from m me, and my y acquainta ances into darkness. d

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The Millin ng Complex x behind the e palace of Caiaphas a and the orig ginal Main S Street beside the palace e. Jesus pro obably walk ked this roa ad.

L Last Suppe S er Roo om It is believed b tha at the down nstairs of th his building houses the e Cenotaph h – or burial tomb – of King Da avid. Wheth her it does or does not, we don’t know for su ure, but it iss for the me emory o of King Dav vid. In orderr of volume of content,, the Bible rrecords the e most deta ail of Mosess, then D David and then t Abraha am. The roo om above it is why we e are here, even thoug gh it was bu uilt in tthe middle ages. a It is certainly c not the right room, r but it may mark the right place. If it is the rright place, it will help us to know this area of o the city w which, in the e time of Je esus, was a against tthe outside wall near public p latrine es.

Acco ording to Jo osephus, the e bathroom ms were nexxt to the upper quarterr of the city where tthe Essene established a monasttery. You will w remembe er the Esse ene were do own by the Dead S Sea copying g scrolls un ntil an earth hquake forced many off them out. They settle ed in this arrea of tthe city befo ore the time e of Jesus. So it is pos ssible that tthe last sup pper meal w was eaten o on the ssecond floo or of the Ess sene monastery.

This is why Ran ndy thinks this is a goo od possibilitty. The Gosspels of Ma atthew, Marrk and L Luke said th hat Jesus ate a the Pass sover meal with the disciples. Luke 22:14–1 15 When the hour ccame, Jesu us and his apostles a rec clined at the e table. And d he said to o them, “I have eagerlyy d desired to eat e this Pas ssover with you before e I suffer.”

John n’s Gospel says s he was on the cro oss at the ssame time tthe lambs w were being slain in the templle for the Passover me eal. John 18 8: Then led d they Jesuss from Caia aphas unto the h hall of judgm ment: and iti was early y; and they themselves t s went not iinto the judg gment hall, lest tthey should d be defiled;; but that th hey might eat the Passsover.

One of the biggest debates s during the e time of Je esus was on what dayy things sho ould be d done. The Essene E cele ebrated the e Passover on a differe ent calenda ar than the Sadducee. The S Sadducees controlled the temple and the Es ssene contrrolled their own comm munity. So itt is p possible tha at Jesus could have co onsumed th he Passove er meal on o one calendar and bee en the P Passover Lamb on ano other calen ndar. They don’t d reconcile the diffference in the Bible be ecause tthey think you y know it.

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Why would Jesus consider this location for his Last Supper? Luke 1:13–17. But the angel said unto him, “Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. 17And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

Now look at Luke 1:80 – And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel. John grew up in the deserts. The deserts were where the Essene were copying the scrolls. It is possible that John grew up with the Essene.

If that is true, Jesus had a relationship with them through John who, although he had been dead for several years, was still known among that community.

There are some events – Pentecost in Acts 2 – that we don’t keep up with, as a first and second Pentecost. The Christian Scriptures are built on top of the Hebrew Scriptures. In Exodus 1–3, there came a Pharaoh in Egypt. In 4–6, Moses went to the desert. In 6–12, ten plagues fell on Egypt. In 13–15, they run from Pharaoh, their backs were against the sea and they could not escape. God sent them into the desert to a place called Marah, “bitter water”. In 19, they were led to the mountain of the law.

Now, watch this interesting parallel. The Lord tells Moses in Exodus 19:10-12 to get the people ready. Get all of them in one location. Exodus 19:10–12 And the LORD said unto Moses, “Go unto the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes, 11And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai. And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, ‘Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death.’

Luke writes in Acts 2:1 that the people were in one place. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

When Moses climbed the mountain, there was lightning and thunder. Exodus 19:16 And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.

Then Luke writes in Acts 2 about strange weather. There came the sound of wind, but not wind. Acts 2: And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.”

Exodus 19:18 talks about how the Lord descended in fire and smoke. And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked.

Luke writes how “tongues-like fire” descended on them in Acts 2:3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

Moses was on the mountain for 40 days. Meanwhile, the people got restless and create a golden calf and idols. Moses came down the mountain, broke the tablets and ordered the Levites to get their swords and kill all those involved in these defiling acts. Some 3,000 men were killed. Exodus 32:28 And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.

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Luke e writes thatt 3,000 sou uls were bap ptized. Actss 2:41 Then n they that g gladly receiived h his word we ere baptized d: and the same s day th here were a added unto o them abou ut three tho ousand ssouls.

The first f Pentec cost was the e giving of the law.

T The second d Pentecostt was writing the law on o our h hearts. This s is a foreru unner to what God will do to the JJews in the new coven nant.

At the Pentecos st in Acts 2,, they bega an to speak in tongues. What did speaking s in tongues mean to an R RJ? Isaiah 28:11, Very y well then, with foreig gn lips and sstrange tongues God will w speak to o this peop ple.

This would be a punishment to the RJ J’s but a b blessing to the Gentile es. This was s the beginning of the ttime of judic cial blindness for the RJs. R This is s a column a at the site o of the Last S Supper.

One off the early Christian C wa ays to say tthat Jesus w was three p pelicans

T The Je ewish Quarrter From m 1948 to 1967, the Je ewish Quartter was nott a part of Issrael. Durin ng that perio od of ttime, it fell into ruins. Because B of the 1948 war w and the 19-year occcupation b by the Jorda anians, tthe Jewish Quarter wa as systemattically destrroyed. Afterr it was take en back in tthe 1967 w war, it w was repopu ulated. As th he sector was w rebuilt, they tried to o keep the old style off the Ottom man E Empire, where residen ntial and ccommerciall areas were blended together t in the same e area.

When the Israelis returned d in 1 1968, there was not on nly a desire e to rrebuild, but to excavate. On Moun nt Zion, o outside the old city wall, the rema ains of e eight palatia al estates of o Roman design w were found. The impro ovement in the sscience of archaeology a y between the e excavations s of the Chu urch of St. Peter P en G Gallicantu in n 1912 and d 1970 in the JJewish Qua arter was ex xtraordinary y. There w was a much h greater ap ppreciation to p preserve ev verything.

Modern s shopping arrea

ed to us that outside off the Holoca aust the de estruction off the temple e is the Shlomo stresse ssecond mos st important event in Jewish-Israe J eli history. JJews long tto have it re ebuilt. Jewss now kknow the te emple and the many pa arts of the city c that we ere destroye ed by Titus in September, 70 A AD. At weddings Jews s break a glass to reme ember that the temple e is not yet rebuilt.

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We also a found the t cardo – “the heart of the city” (Cardo Ma aximus) – frrom the Byzzantine p period, fifth century, much m like we e saw in Be eth She`an. If you follo ow it, it will e end at the C Church o of the Holy Sepulcher. They have e excavated d a part of itt to give uss an idea wh hat it was like w when it was s built. It is 18 feet lower than the street leve el today.

The image to th he right is n not a mural, but wallpa aper that w was created d to give an n idea of w what this co orridor looke ed like 1 1,600 years s ago. Whoever printed d tthe wallpaper had a se ense of h humor. If yo ou look in th he bottom rright hand corner, c you will see a little boy witth a baseba all cap, b backpack and sneakerrs! onstruction work Reco ffollowing the 1967 warr allowed a archaeologiists to exca avate vvarious area as in the Je ewish Q Quarter. On ne of the mo ost ssignificant finds f from th he OT p period was the Broad Wall.

W Built b

by Hezekiah h in the day ys before tthe 731 BC invasion by the Assyrrian King Se ennacherib b, the Broad d Wall enclo osed the W Western H Hill and incrreased the walled area a of Jerusa alem five-folld. You can n tell it is an n old wall be ecause itt was made e using ston nes that we ere pieced together t like e a jigsaw p puzzle.

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Broad Wall W of Hezek kiah.

Some 700 years before Je esus, no wa all existed o on the north h side of Jerusalem.

H However, th here was a man-made e moat. The e Assyrians had just co onquered th he northern n kkingdom. In n seven yea ars, the city of Jerusale em grew 10 0 times its ssize. The te en lost tribe es were n not actually y lost – they y were running. Many fled f south tto Jerusalem m. Hezekia ah needed sstone a and he needed it fast. The east side of the city c was pro otected by tthe Kidron V Valley, whicch m meant that if someone e was going g to attack you, y they ha ad to do it u uphill – a m more difficultt task.

The south was protected by b the Hinno om-Kidron Valley, whiile the westt side was p protected by the Hinno om Valley. But B the norrth was a co ontinuous ridge. So if yyou are goiing to q quarry somewhere, qu uarry to the north and force f them to come up p a hill. Tha at is what he e did.

H He cut a sw wath through h the Ophe el Ridge norrth of the city. The Asssyrians did not capture e JJerusalem or o the kingd dom of Juda ah. But 125 5 years late er, it fell to tthe Babylon nians.

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T Temple Mou unt So outh Wall W It wa as late in the e day when n we arrived d at tthe South Wall W of the Temple T Mount. The Mount o of Olives turned pink in n the setting g sun beforre tturning beig ge minutes later in the dwindling light. l T This area has been un nder excava ation since the e early 1970s s. In this photo, the sto one structurre on tthe right is the t south te emple wall. The area in the u upper left hand corner is where th he current street s evel is toda le ay. The pho oto is of a street and shops u under consttruction durring the time of Jesus.

JJesus and the t disciples probably walked this s sstreet, but itt was not co ompleted until u a g generation later. Notice the doors s with the a archway wh here the people are sta anding.

Thos se shops we ere later bu urned by the e R Romans. How do you burn stone shops, you u m might ask? Limestone traps wate er in crevice es w where it form ms calcium m deposits on o the outside a as it seeps inside the rock. r If you heat up the e limestone, the t water in nside the ro ock quickly e expands an nd the rock will explode e. The Rom mans u used bellow ws to heat th he rocks to destroy the e ccity.

S Street and s shops unde er construction us d during the ttime of Jesu

An Old Testament (1st Temple) storage ro T oom with ja rs marked, “belonging gs to the kin ng.�

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On th he steps of th he South Wa all

Mikvah at th he South Wa all steps

Hulda ah Gate, So outh Wall off the Temple e Mount In the e photo abov ve, we are sitting on the steps leadin ng up to the Temple. Th he Temple iss the ccenter point of Jewish liffe, but it is no ot the centerr of learning . The synag gogues are th he communiity 210

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centers and learning centers. The Temple is about one thing – the smoke and the scent of the sacrifice.

This step area is huge. Some 10,000 people could eat a Passover meal lying down on these steps – if they wanted to! In front of the South Wall steps were a series of mikvahs, or ritual baths. To date, 42 of these baths have been found. There was a priest at each mikvah.

Notice in the photo on page 210 how the staircase leading down into the mikvah is divided.

The unclean pilgrim walked down the right side, dunked himself clean and then exited on the left side. In Acts chapter 2 when 3,000 people were baptized, it was here. There is no other place in Jerusalem large enough to handle that task. Once the pilgrim was spiritually cleansed, the priest gavehim a clay ticket pass to enter into the Temple Mount. In the photo on page 210, you will also see three arches. Although they are blocked now, they were opened in the time of Jesus. These are the Huldah Gates. If you walk through these arches and turn to your left, you will be in the Sanhedrin chambers. Today, it is a mosque. If you continue straight, another set of stairs will take you up to the Court of the Gentiles.

It was estimated in the New Testament that there were 7,200 priests throughout the land. They did not serve all at one time, however. They served in courses and there were 24 courses. Each course had about 300 priests. There were 50 priests on staff at the Temple year-round. Each course of priest would serve for one week, twice a year. All priests would be on call for the high holy feast (3). In total, each priest would serve at the Temple five times a year.

Think about this. A priest, coming from his village in the Galilee, sees a bloody man lying in the middle of the road that he thinks may be dead. Does the priest touch him? No, because if he did he would become spiritually unclean and would have to go back to his village and miss his turn at the temple. A priest could not touch anything bloody or dead. In the Good Samaritan story, we need to have a little sympathy for the priest and Levites of this time. Not too much, however, because they were wrong. One of the revolutionary things Jesus did as a rabbi was to say that it was more important to care for people than to go into the Temple. He said, “You think the ritual of the temple worship is what I am about. What I am about is your heart and caring for one another.”

So how did the priest deal with blood at the sacrifice? The priest wore a turban, tunic and trousers underneath, all of which were made of white linen. They were woven on the western porch of the Temple. As best we know, the weavers were constantly weaving. If you were standing in a line, slaughtering the animals, cutting them apart, passing the pieces up the line to be sacrificed, and a drop of blood got on your trousers, you would have to step out of line and allow another priest to step in while you went into the chamber to change pants.

Then you would come back outside and get back in line. There was a constant flow of people coming and going. The soiled garments were shredded and used as wicks for the emple lamps.

Some of you asked earlier about Joseph marrying Mary. There is an old document from this period that talks about the holy family of Joseph and Mary when they were still alive.

Is it true? We don’t know. We just know that it is old. The pieces of that document, when pieced together, tell us that Joseph was a much older man than Mary. He had already been married once and his first wife had died. However, Mary’s parents, Hanna and Joachim, were concerned because she had made a vow, as a weaver on the western porch that she would never marry.

To a Jewish family, this is a terrible vow. They were worried because they now had no way to take care of their daughter. So they handed her over in an “oversight” marriage. An 211

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oversight marriage is all about caring for the younger woman as a favor to her parents. The marriage will never be consummated. Joseph could be anywhere from 30 to 50 years old. We know he was not present at the crucifixion, so we assume that he must have already died.

We did not know anything about this type of marriage until we found the Dead Sea scrolls. However, it appears to have been quite common. Consider the manger scene. Mary could possibly be about 14 years old. Remove the donkeys and cows because there would be no room for them in a cave-style home. Remove the sheep because they would be out in the fields with the shepherds. Insert some older children from Joseph’s previous marriage and you be may closer to the actually nativity scene. Forget the white Christmas, too. That came later. But it may also be explained in Mark 3:31,Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived.

Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him.

We don’t know if Mary had any other children other than Jesus. If she did not, it could explain his brothers. James and Jude were probably stepbrothers of Jesus through an earlier marriage of Joseph. Why does Randy think this account is likely to be true? We know that Joseph was a “righteous man” which means an elder in the community. We also know that the title of “James the righteous” is a term usually given to the first-born son. Therefore, James could have been from a previous marriage. Think about this? Joseph is involved in an “oversight” marriage and Mary winds up pregnant. That really looks bad for an elder in the community.

Joseph was probably looking for a way out of this situation until an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream in Matthew 1:19–21, Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.

God revealed to Joseph what to do. His heart was right, but he was in a quandary with the law. It is something to think about.

The steps provided great teaching and sermon opportunities. For example, a pilgrim by the name of Saul of Tarsus and his teacher Gamaliel taught out here on these steps. So our little family is learning the Bible on the same steps as the apostle Paul. That is cool!

Randy hopes that we are developing a feel for the people in the Bible. They are people, just like us. The more things change, the more they remain the same. When Jesus put on human skin and walked with us, he looked just like everyone else. He sounded like everyone else when he spoke, but if you really listened, he was very different. Remember the road to Emmaus when Jesus was walking with the two pilgrims? They did not recognize him. He explained to them why things had to be, why the Messiah had to come and die. They did not recognize him until he started to talk to his Father. As he blessed God his Father for that bread, they looked at him and knew who he was. There was something about his prayer that was different. All Jesus was trying to say is, “I want a personal relationship with you. You want a religion. I don’t.”

What happened to Judaism? How did the laws get so complicated? David went into the Temple and ate the showbread and God did not have the earth swallow him up. But in the time of Jesus, if you spat on a rock on the Sabbath it was ok, but if you spat on the soil, it would have been viewed as tilling the soil and working on the Sabbath. What happened?

They were exiled to Babylon, the biggest lawyer factory on the planet. When they returned to Israel, they came back as legal experts. So the New Testament sounds different than the Old 212

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T Testament. What was between th hem? Babylon. So God d put on hu uman skin a and said, “Y You got tthe list, but you are missing the point”. p Toda ay, the Mus slims are sy ystematically destroyin ng any evide ence that a Temple sttood h here. If you attend a sc chool in Be ethlehem, no ow an Arab b controlled d territory, yyou will hea ar that tthere neverr was a Tem mple. The Jews made it up. Islam m is about d destroying a any view tha at Israel belon ngs here. Islam is the most m single e deceptive movementt on the planet today. T The sscary part is s that they honestly be elieve the deception. d T The Arabs a are generallly great pe eople, b but they are e a lost and d deceived people. p The e whole arg gument is w whose God is God?

T The Hinnom m Valle ey The Hinnom Va alley is a de eep, narrow w ravine loca ated in Jeru usalem, run nning south h from tthe Jaffa Ga ate on the west w side of o the Old City, C then ea astward along the soutth side of M Mount Z Zion until it meets the Kidron Valley, which separates s th he Temple Mount from m the Moun nt of O Olives on th he east side e of the city y.

The Hinnom Va alley had a horrendous s history in ancient tim mes. It was a place whe ere p pagan wors shippers did d all sorts of o vile and wicked w thing gs, including burning cchildren alivve as ssacrifices to o the idols Moloch M and d Baal. One e section of the valley w was called Tophet, or “five sstoves”. It was w where children c we ere slaughte ered, 2 King gs 23:10 H He desecratted Tophet, which w was in the Valley V of Be en Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrificce his son o or daughterr in the ffire to Molec ch.

Afterr their return n from the Babylonian B exile, the JJews turned d the Hinno om Valley in nto the ccity dump, where w garbage and an nything dee emed uncle an (includin ng the bodies of execu uted ccriminals) was w incinera ated. For th hat purpose e, a fire wass kept consttantly burniing there. E Even

The Mount M of Olives s at sunset. As A the moon got g higher, the e landscape tu urned colors.

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though it was no longer used for evil worship, the garbage, filth and thick smoke ensured that it remained a very dark and dreary place.

The Hebrew name Hinnom translated into Greek is Gehenna, from which the word and concept of hell originated. By the time of Jesus Christ, the deep, constantly-burning Valley of Hinnom was also known as the Valley of Gehenna, or Hell, and had taken on a popular image as the place "down there" where the wicked would eventually be cast into the flames for destruction.

***

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Jewish Questionings and Roman Trial of Jesus Introduction The arrest, trail and conviction of Jesus – the Jewish questions and the Roman Trial We are not primarily a physical being. We are primarily a spiritual being with a very short time of physical life. It is not who I am now, but it is where I live right now. The interesting thing about this life is that while the outer man grows physically weaker with age, it is an opportunity for the inner man – the spiritual man – to grow stronger each day. The biggest pain for Jesus was not the beating or the crucifixion, but it was the first time and the last time the Father turned his back on his Son. It was the first and last time the Son would be separated from the Father.

Passion Week – Seven Days The next day, when the large crowd that had come to the festival (Passover) heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took palm branches and went out to meet Him. They kept shouting: Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord – the King of Israel – John 12:12-13.

In all of history, there has never been a more important week, nor will there ever be.

This is the focal point of eternity; the point at which Satan is defeated and redemption is sealed. Every prior moment has been merely a prelude; a longing in anticipation of this week.

Every moment since has been, and will continue to be, a celebration in the halls of eternity – a testimony to the price paid and the victory won during what we now call the Passion Week.

For years, Jesus had lived with the knowledge that this week would come. He knew that, in time, he would be the final Passover lamb. We don’t know exactly when Jesus became aware of his sacrificial destiny, but when he was just eight days old, Mary was told by Simeon, this child is destined to cause the fall and rise of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be opposed – and a sword will pierce your own soul… (Luke 2:34-35).

It’s easy to see how Jesus would have learned early of the suffering of the Lord’s “servant” foretold in Isaiah 53. As his Messianic identity developed, Jesus would have understood the application of the prophecy to himself.

This was the fourth Passover since his baptism. It’s impossible to say if Jesus knew from the beginning that his death would come on the fourth Passover. Either way, he certainly had been aware for several months that this would be his last. And now he is entering Jerusalem with a complete understanding of what is coming.

The week begins with Jesus’ “triumphant” or “royal” entry into Jerusalem on a donkey on Sunday. He had arrived at Bethany on Friday and stayed at the home of Lazarus, Mary, 215

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and Martha. Prior visits to Jerusalem had been low-key and without fanfare. Not so this time.

Jesus entered the city with the people praising him as a King. Not only was Jesus no longer avoiding the plot against him, he was actually challenging the Sanhedrin in anticipation of the coming arrest and execution.

It was a full and hectic week. Jesus taught many parables, cursed a fig tree, answered questions and cleansed the temple for the second time. I don’t know why we call it “cleansing” when all he really did was make it dirty. For the last 30 days, the priests have been working overtime to get the temple clean and ready for this week. While Jesus is walking through the temple courtyard, however, he picks up something to make a whip. He begins turning over tables and snapping the whip, causing animals to run all over the place. Of course, the scared animals leave behind little deposits of their fear!

The priests have been preparing for a month to get this area “white glove” clean and within a few minutes it is a complete mess. He has walked in and been antagonistic in the temple. Jesus is going after them. He returns on Tuesday and calls the Pharisees and the Sadducees “whiten sepulchers” and “vipers”. He is provoking them and he refuses to do what they want him to do.

Now they are in the back plotting against him. When you first read the Gospel, you will probably view Jesus is a victim. But the more you read, the clearer it becomes that he is actually the one driving the events. He is creating a situation where they have to respond.

Matthew 23 – 25 In Matthew 23, Jesus tells the disciples eight woes, how bad the religious leadership is and warns the disciples about them. In Matthew 24, they are leaving the temple area with the disciples talking about the beauty of the buildings. Jesus tells them that not one stone will be left on another. However, Randy does not think that Titus and the Romans intentionally destroyed the Temple. They wanted the gold on the roof and so they started fires to melt the gold. As the metal ran into the crevices and solidified, they had to move the stones out of the way to get to the gold.

In the rest of Matthew 24 and all of 25, they are on the Mount of Olives where Jesus delivers what we call the “Olivet Discourse”. In Matthew 24, he tells of his return and what the world will be like before he returns – nations against nations (ethnos) and kingdom against kingdom. There will be ethnic strife, ethnic cleansing and state fighting against state. There will be earthquakes and other natural disasters. He tells them that when they see these things start to happen, his return will be near. God is a process God. He starts a process to warn you to get ready. Revelation 6 is in the same order as Jesus described in Matthew 24.

We need to always keep in mind as we read the Gospels that Luke is the only book written in chronological order. When John wrote his Gospel, he knew that Luke had written a time-line Gospel 25 years earlier. Therefore, John did not see the need to tell stories in their proper order. Even in Mark, when he writes something like “straight away they did this or immediately they did that”, he is not really saying the next thing they did was this or that. What he really means is that the next thing he wants to tell you is that they did this or that. Luke may tell you they did three things in between. Remember that this is literature. Let the writer tell the story his way.

In John we also need to be careful of the phrase, “the Jews sought to kill him.” When John writes about the Jews, it can mean either the Jews or the people of Judea. So when John writes, “the Jews sought to kill him” it means that the Judeans sought to kill him, as opposed to the Galilean who actually liked him.

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Finally, Jesus gathered his disciples for the Passover meal on Thursday evening. So began the chain-of-events that led to his crucifixion and burial on Friday.

Not surprisingly, all four Gospels provide significant detail regarding the Passover Week. This was the week where Jesus’ conflict with the Jewish leadership manifested and reflected the cosmic conflict between God and Satan.

Even in the shadow of the cross, Jesus continued to teach and minister to those he came to save. Such was his love for people. Such was the need to clarify his message. Such was the power of this servant who never stopped giving himself in sacrificial service to others, even as he was hanging on the cross. It was always about people. It was always about their redemption. It was always about their life.

This was the driving force in his life and ministry. This was why he came. This was his mission and calling. This was his passion.

The Church of St. Anne’s St. Anne's Church is located in the Muslim Quarter, near the Lion's Gate. The pools of Bethesda were found on the property of the White Fathers, a very practical missionary order of the Catholic Church. The Church of St. Ann’s is a 12th century Crusader church that sits on this property and marks the traditional site of the family home of Hanna and Joachim, the parents of Mary according to the White Fathers.

Anne is a form of the name Hanna. St. Anne's Church was built between 1131 and 1138 to replace a previous Byzantine church. Shortly after it was constructed, the church was made bigger by moving the facade forward several meters. They found a house from the period of the 2nd temple. Above that they found some remains of a Byzantine church (300– 600 AD), and above that a Crusader church (1100–1200 AD). In 1192, Saladin turned the church into a Muslim theological school, which is commemorated in an inscription above the church's entrance. Eventually abandoned, the church fell into ruin until the Ottomans donated it to France in 1856. It was subsequently restored, but most of what remains today is original.

During the restoration they found the remains of a deep pool – the Bethesda Pools.

St. Anne's acoustics, designed for Gregorian chant, are so perfect with their eight-count echoes that the church is virtually a musical instrument to be played by the human voice. If you think you sing well in a shower, you will sound great here. Only religious songs are permitted, however!

One of the many “wow” moments of this trip was singing in the Church of St. Anne.

Once we caught on to what Randy wanted his choir to do, we sounded great.

Pool of Bethesda In Hebrew, the Pool of Bethesda is called the pool of the twins. When translated into Greek, it became Bethesda (house of mercy). The Pool of Bethesda is a pool of water in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem, on the path of the Beth Zeta Valley. The Gospel of John describes such a pool in Jerusalem, near the Sheep Gate, which is surrounded by five porches, or covered colonnades. It is associated with healing.

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Before the Jews s built the pools, p there e was alread dy evidence e of a paga an temple o on this ssite with the e pools used for medic cinal purpos ses. Until th he 19th cen ntury, howe ever, there w was no e evidence ou utside of Jo ohn’s Gospe el for the ex xistence of this pool. Itt was at this point whe en a archaeologiists discove ered the rem mains of a pool exactlyy matching g the descrip ption in Joh hn’s G Gospel, thu us confirmin ng the historical accura acy of John n’s account..

Mod del of the Poo ols of Bethes sda in the tim me of Jesus – aligned in a north-soutth direction.

Ruins of the Byzan ntine Church h, adjacent to o the northerrn wall of the e southern B Bethesda poo ol.

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The history of the pool began in the 8th century BC, when a dam was built across the short Beth Zeta valley to create a rainwater reservoir. A sluice-gate in the dam allowed the height to be controlled while a rock-cut channel brought a steady stream of water into the city.

The reservoir became known as the Upper Pool. Around 200 BC, during the period in which Simon II was the Jewish High Priest, the channel was enclosed, and a second pool was added on the south side of the dam. Although popular legend argues that this pool was used for washing sheep, this is very unlikely due to both the pool's extreme depth and its use as a water supply. Although the distance from the top of the pool to the bottom measured 40 to 42 feet, the water level did not reach the top of the pool. The water depth was between 16 and 18 feet, which means it was a 24-foot drop from the top of the pool to the water level. In John’s Gospel, the bedridden man would have needed help to reach the water level.

Only one and a half chapters of the book of John are of the popular ministry of Jesus.

There are two pools mentioned in Johns Gospel. In chapter 5, he writes about a lame man at the pool of Bethesda who has been coming there for 38 years. In chapter 9, he writes about a blind man at the pool at Siloam. The focus today will be on the lame man.

Jesus and the Pool of Bethesda This story from John chapter 5 is part of the popular ministry of Jesus. He is drawing crowds and people are excited about him. Jesus is going to meet a man and the focus of his life is helplessness.

The people believed that if you got into the water when it was “stirred by an angel” you would be healed of your disease. What was the angel that stirred the water? During heavy rains, water would fall on the Beth Zeta ridge and run into the crevices of the rock before running downhill until it reached breaks in the northern and southern walls. The water would flow through these breaks carrying with it any soil that had been picked up along the way. As it entered the still-standing pool water, it would agitate (stir) the water. The soil gave the water a reddish color. We have all seen rivers turn reddish several days after a rain.

John is not saying that the water was stirred by an angel. He is saying that is what people believed. Long before the Jews built the pool here, there was pagan tradition of healing waters at this site. John simply says that the people believed these waters had healing properties and that, during the time of Jesus, they thought it was because an angel stirred the water. Were people healed here? We don’t know. God can heal people wherever and wherever he desires.

Sometime later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lay the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. John 5 The point of this story is that this is the Sabbath. The rest of the story is an argument about the Sabbath. John writes about the conflicts of Jesus with the wealthy Judean aristocracy in Jerusalem. So every time Jesus performs a healing, it is to show you how he got in trouble by healing. John writes about the conflicts of Jesus. If you were to read only the 219

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synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke you could conclude that if Jesus was so popular, why did they kill him? But John writes about a building tension between Jesus and the Judean aristocracy that goes on for the three-and-a-half years of his ministry.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.” But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”

The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. Depending on your version of the Bible, the question Jesus asks is: “Do you want to get well” or “Do you want to be made whole” or “Do you want to be made well?” The man replies, “Sir, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” For 38 years, this man has been laying by the pool waiting to be the first one to enter the water. For 38 years, someone else has been first. It is 24 feet from the top of the pool to the water level. It is really about a moment of commitment. Do you believe you will be healed?

There is an old adage in counseling. If it is easier to keep the problem than solve the problem, the problem will not be solved. What we try to do in counseling is make solving the problem easier than keeping the problem.

“Do you want to be made well?” Jesus asked. “Sir, I have no one to help me,” the man replied. Jesus said, “You do not need anyone else. Pick up your mat and walk.” And the man got up, showed his own responsibility and picked up his mat. Meanwhile, everybody else walking through the streets is saying, “Wrong day to pick up your mat.” The healed man must be thinking, “After 38 years of waiting, I get healed on the wrong day of the week!

It is the same pattern in John chapter 9. A blind man gets healed on the Sabbath. They are so concerned about getting the religious details correct that they do not develop the relationship. There is a vast difference between relationship and religion. Religion is man’s attempt to build an erector-set that would please God. Relationship is surrender, knowing that only God can save you, coming humbly before the cross and acknowledging that you are a mess and asking God to change you.

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V Via Do olorosa a

<> The Via V Doloro osa – Latin for “Way off Grief” or ““Way of Sufffering” – iss a two-partt street w within the Old O City of Jerusalem.

J It is said to o be the patth that Jesu us walked, ccarrying hiss cross, o on the way to his cruciifixion. The route of the e Via Dolorrosa beginss near the L Lions' Gate in the M Muslim Qua arter and en nds at the Church C of th he Holy Se pulcher in tthe Christia an Quarter, ccovering ab bout a quartter of a mile e and incorporating 14 4 Stations o of the Crosss. The original Via D Dolorosa is below the current stre eet level.

The Origina al Via Doloro osa under Ec cce Homo Co onvent.

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Since the late 15th century, when Columbus was discovering America, the Franciscans established a path that is marked by nine Stations of the Cross with the remaining five stations inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Prior to this Franciscan route, various earlier routes existed.

The Franciscans wanted to show the humanity of Jesus. Jesus falls three times between station one and station 14. Why do they tell us that he falls? Humanity. The Franciscans knew that the pilgrims who would follow Jesus knew him theologically. But they wanted them to also remember his human side. This walk was designed to bond the humanity of Jesus in your heart. For those of you who already know he is God, they want you to remember that he was fully a man as well.

On the walk of the Via Dolorosa, there will be many people at each stop. It is crowded.

There are some people from small villages around the world that have paid a big price to come here. They are not in the way. They are the point of the story. This Jesus changed my life.

It is now Friday morning. About 6:00 a.m. they bring Jesus to the Romans. Since the Sanhedrin had decided that they couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t charge Jesus with anything after their star witness hung himself, they decided to turn Jesus over to the Romans instead. By the time Jesus was brought here, he had already been up most of the night. He had also been beaten. On Friday morning, he is brought here to Pilate by the Sanhedrin, then taken to Herod Antipas, then returned to Pilate.

Station 1: Jesus is Condemned to Death Station 1 is located on the north-west corner of the temple mount at the present day site of Al-Omariya school. In the time of Jesus, this site was the seat of Pontius Pilate (26â&#x20AC;&#x201C;36 AD), the procurator of Jerusalem, located in the Antonia fortress, and the place of the hall of judgment. John 18-28: Then they *led Jesus from Caiaphas into the Praetorium, and it was early; and they themselves did not enter into the Praetorium so that they would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover.

Jesus is condemned to death by Pontius Pilate, as per John 19:16: Then delivered him therefore unto them to be crucified. In the time of Herod, Pilate built a fortress on the northwest corner of Jerusalem. It was known as the Fortress Antonia. We are standing where it was located. When Jesus came before Pilate, this is one of two places he may have been.

This was the single largest building inside Jerusalem with troops.

It is important to understand that Pilate ruled from Caesarea but came here for Passover. In John 6, Jesus feeds the 5,000. In John 6:15, So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.

Passover is the time when Messianic expectations are sky-high. With all the people streaming into Jerusalem, Pontius Pilate wants to keep a close eye on what is going on.

Having received word from Rome about the Sejanus uprising, he is concerned about how the Romans will view any insurrection in Judea.

We were in the chapel built on that site. Antonia fortress was later destroyed. Although that building is no longer here some of the stones in that building are part of this building.

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S Station 2: Jesus Receives R His Cros ss Across the stree et from the Antonia forrtress is the e Francisca an convent of the Flagellation a and Church h of Condem mnation. Jo ohn 19:17–1 19 And he b bearing his cross went forth into a place ccalled the place p of a sk kull, which is called in the Hebrew w Golgotha a: Where they crucified d him, a and two oth her with him m, on either side one, and a Jesus iin the midstt. And Pilatte wrote a tiitle, a and put it on n the cross s. And the writing w was JESUS OF F NAZARET TH THE KIN NG OF THE E JJEWS. This s is where Jesus J receiv ves his cross.

The photo below w is a view of the interrior of the F Flagellation church, witth the crow wn of tthorns in the e center of the arch, and a three re emarkable sstained-glasss windowss illustrating g P Pontius Pila ate washing g his hands s from the sin (left); flog gging Jesus and placing a crown n of tthorns over his head (c center); and d Barabbas s rejoicing h his release instead of Jesus’ (righ ht).

Crow wn of Thorns s. Church of the Condem mnation and F Flagellation.

Pilate e has a cru uel form of logic over th he people h he rules. Jo ohn 19:1. Th Then Pilate ttherefore to ook Jesus, and a scourged him. And the soldie ers platted a crown off thorns, and d put it o on his head d, and they put on him a purple ro obe, And sa aid, “Hail, K King of the JJews!” and they ssmote him with w their ha ands.

Some Bibles sa ay “flogged”” or “chastis sed” instead d of “scourg ged”. A flog gging is 39 lashes.

F Flogging wa as not done e with a sing gle strap le eather whip.. These are e whips thatt have seve en or e eight strand ds with glas ss or metal woven w into them. The e victim wou uld first be ““spread-eag gled.”

T Then the atttacker wou uld stand to one side, lash acrosss the back a and pull the e whip to rip p away fflesh and muscle. m The attacker would w then go g to the oth her side an nd do the sa ame thing.

W When you “chastise” “ somebody s with w 39 lash hes, they will die of tettanus. From m Pilate’s sstandpoint, “I find no fa ault in this man”. m But Pilate P is also o thinking, “If I scourge him he w will no lo onger be a concern to o me because he will be b dead witthin a month. Or, if he is crucified d he will b be dead. Either way he e will not be e a problem m to me in t he near futture.”

To beat a man with w 40 lash hes is cons sidered a de eath senten nce. To bea at a man with 39 la w an inc ch of his life e. Pilate ord ders 39 lashes for a m man who he e ashes is to beat him within b believes did d not do any ything wron ng. Pilate ca arries out th his brutal punishment to keep the e JJewish lead dership hap ppy and to thwart any possible p inssurrection d during this vvery volatile e time in the Roma an Empire. In the entirre history off the emperrors of the Roman Em mpire, the m most d dangerous threat to ov verthrow the e empire was by Sejan hat occurred d at nus. Coinciidentally, th e exactly the same time Jesus was s on trial. So o Pilate hass a fairly fre ee hand to d do what he feels 223

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iss right. This s is a piece e of Roman Empire his story that iss rarely disccussed, but it helps to u understand why Tiberias and Pila ate acted th he way theyy did.

Afterr Jesus was s beaten within an inch h of his life,, a crown of thorns wa as pressed onto h his head. By the time Jesus J receiived his cro oss, he had been beatten, flogged d, a crown o of tthorns pressed on his head, his beard b had been b pulled , his back laid open, a cloth place ed over tthe wounds s to clot the blood and then pulled d off. Becau use so mucch of Jesus’’ muscle strructure in his shoulders and ba ack had be een disrupte ed, it is no w wonder he ccould not ccarry the cro oss.

JJesus is stu umbling dow wn the stree et early Frid day mornin g. He will b be on the crross by 9:00 0 a.m.

B By noon, the sky will be b turning dark and by 3:00 p.m. h he will be d dead.

This was a holid day week. Thousands T of people a are in town n, and most are just ge etting ttheir day sta arted. All off this was done d so exp peditiously tthat, by the e time Jesuss was hang ging on tthe cross, most m people e were not even e aware e what was going on.

The artwork doe es not do ju ustice to the e actual eve ent. This im mage here sshows a nicce m milled piece e of wood as a a cross. First, F they did d not use milled woo od to make a cross. Se econd, JJesus did not carry the e whole cro oss – just the horizonta al beam. Th he upright ssection of a cross w was probab bly a rooted tree. The cross c beam m was proba ably chaine ed to the ba ack of the trree, w while the pe erson’s feett were naile ed to the tre ee. Then the ey were lefft to die. Cru ucifixion is very p painful and very grues some.

All off the messa age of the suffering s of Jesus and his crucifixxion are the eologically d designed to o close som mething thatt opened in the Garden n. The storyy of the Bib ble begins w with G God and wh ho he is and d what he cares c aboutt, the enem my and how w he works ((prolog to d day 1 – b bus ride from the airpo ort to Tel Av viv), and ma an in his fallen mess a and how he e joined the wrong sside and the e human co ondition of why w things don’t work..

E Every day we w get up and a face relationships that fall apa art, bodies that fall apa art, cars tha at fall a apart, jobs that t fall apa art, and eco onomies tha at fall apartt. In the beg ginning, we were neve er d designed to o face death h. We were e never designed to facce a broken n relationsh hip. That is not w who you are e. That is what w happen ned in the fall. f In the G Garden, wh hen Eve deccided to rea ach for tthe fruit, eve ery rape tha at ever occ curred happ pened then.. Every murrder, every beating, evvery lie, e every war happened h th hen. It was not Pandora’s Box, bu ut the catacclysm of the e universe.

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Although we are not the only thing that fell, all creation is groaning for redemption.

Even the sun, stars and moons were affected. From God’s perspective, that day in the Garden messed up everything. It was like throwing black paint on Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. We do not understand God’s hurt and pain. He felt betrayed. In Hosea, “I was a good husband and my wife walked out on me. How could you do that to me?” That is how God felt after the Garden. All creation was crushed At the cross, all the pieces are told to remind you of the Garden. What started in one Garden ended in another Garden. What started in one garden was Eve turning her back on God, ended with another clinging to him. John 14:3–9 While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly. “Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could.

She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.

What started in one Garden with Eve turning her back on God ended with God turning his back on his Son. And in the story, the thorns and the tilling of the grounds become the thorns woven and pressed onto his head. Every part of the story is remembered. The branch and sponge with vinegar and gall is the hyssop branch that was used at Passover to paint the blood over the door frames. Every part of this story screams with God redeeming his lost creation. Every detail in the book of John is “let me show you this is the Lamb of God.” Wednesday is the day of silence. For the Jew, you clean your house. You get rid of all of your dust bunnies . It is the same today as then, only it is called spring cleaning. It comes from the Jewish tradition of Passover. But this Wednesday, for Jesus, is probably a day of fasting in preparation for what is to come. We don’t know, but it would make sense.

Thursday is different. In Luke 22:10, And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in.

In those times, only women and donkeys carried water. But here was a man carrying water. Maybe the man is an Essene and he takes him to a Passover room. This makes you wonder if Jesus had Passover in the Essene Monastery. That would make sense. John the Baptist has been a series of bookends in the life of Jesus from before he was born to the time of the death of Jesus.

Between Station 2 and 3 is the Ecce Homo. This is the area where Pilate presented Jesus to the crowd in John 19:5, Then came Jesus forth, wearing a crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, “Behold the man.” (Ecce Homo) This church was built during the second half of last century on a site that has yielded the remains of ancient ruins, part of the fortifications and courtyard of the fortress Antonia and remarkable vestiges of the Roman-age street paving – the so-called Lithostratus. Mention should be made at this site and the site of Notre Dame de Sion Ecce Homo Convent as the location built over the Struthion Pool, an ancient water reservoir from 2nd century BC, later roofed over by the Emperor Hadrian.

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Not every soldier was given all the armor, but every soldier was given certain pieces.

Let’s review the pieces of armor Paul told us to wear in Ephesians 6. Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

14 “ Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth.”

First of all we put on a belt of truthfulness. The soldier put on a round leather belt with a point in front to protect the loins. One swift kick by the weakest person to that region can bring down the strongest soldier. Your truthfulness is your most vulnerable area. Father, help me to speak truth and hear truth. The breastplate was normally made of leather. We put on a breastplate of right choices. When you are making right choices, you are literally protecting your heart. Choosing not to watch something that will print an image in your mind will help you to make the right choice later. Right choices. Guard your heart.

15 ” And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.”

To keep his feet firmly planted, the Roman soldier would shod over his sandals with metal cleats. Our metal cleat is the Gospel. The Gospel is about your identity – who God says you are. You are worth a lot to God. After all, he gave his Son for you. You are who Jesus said you are. People do not know their identity in Christ. If they knew that, they would be secure.

Every soldier would have a belt, breastplate, and shod sandals.

16 ”Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.”

Paul writes “above all”, but that would translate to “when necessary”. When the situation calls for it, you will need these pieces of armor as well. A blocking shield is about two feet wide and six feet tall. The Roman soldiers would link arms, hold the shields out in front of them and move through the enemy as a solid wall of protection. Paul is saying that in the morning you put on truthfulness, righteousness and your identity. When necessary, you lock arms with a friend and hide behind a shield. When those darts come you are going to need a friend. You are not supposed to be offensive. You are only supposed to stand. Over and over, Paul talks about standing. “Having stood therefore.” Stand your ground. You do it with a friend.

17 ”And take the helmet of salvation.”

Most Roman soldiers did not have a helmet. Only the squad leaders in front wore helmets with a plume. That made it easy to see whom to follow. Go forward behind him. You put on a helmet of salvation to keep your head from swelling and to protect your mind. But you also put on a helmet to see where God is leading you. You are calling on God’s leadership in the middle of a battle.

The sword of the Spirit is the word of God. It is not the broad sword. It is the dagger you keep strapped to the inside of your leg. When all else fails and the enemy is too close to swing the broad sword, you reach for your dagger to stick it to him. In times of peace, you study the word of God. Your dagger is God’s word spoken to you.

18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.

Those pieces of armor were part of the Roman soldier’s life. But they got bored and would often play “dice” games with animal knuckles. They would roll the knuckles on squares like dice. Some of the stones have the signs of an ancient dice game, which has given support to the hypothesis that this was the place where the Roman soldiers may have gambled for Jesus' clothes. Other times they would use condemned prisoners. This game was called the 226

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“Kings Games”. They would dress condemned prisoners like kings, go into the courtyard, roll the knuckles and move the prisoners around like men on a chess board. The team that won got to choose the method of killing the prisoners. Even though they dressed Jesus in a purple robe, it is not thought they played the Kings Game with Jesus.

Station 3: Jesus Falls the First Time under His Cross This station is located on the corner of Via Dolorosa and El-Wad (Hagai) streets. At station three, Jesus fell. It is possible Jesus fell many times, but three are remembered on this walk.

Station 4: Jesus Sees Mary, His Mother The fourth station is located very close to station three, further south on El-Wad (Hagai) street at the Church of the Spasm. According to the tradition, it was here that Jesus met his mother Mary. As per John 19:26, When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Many women who lost sons would stand at this corner and cry. There was a prophecy to Mary at the birth of Jesus that a sword would pierce her heart. We know she was there at the cross with John.

Surely if she knew about these events, she would be along the way with her son.

Station 5: Simon Helps Jesus Carry His Cross An inscription on the architrave of a door recalls the encounter between Jesus and Simon the Cyrenian (located in modern day Libya), who was given Christ's heavy cross to carry to Golgotha (Calvary), the place of the Crucifixion. The episode is confirmed by all of the Gospels except that of John. Why do the Gospels record this event? Simon is a person of color, which meant he was a “marginal” Roman. He is not part of the story, but is drawn into it.

He is also the father of two early church leaders, Rufus and Alexander. Luke 23:26–27, And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus. And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.

Station 6: Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus This station is further west up the hill and dedicated to the woman St. Veronica, who wiped the face of Jesus. This is how traditions develop in a church. Vera is Latin for “face”.

Icona is Latin for “image”. Vera plus icona became Veronica. A woman wiped the face of Jesus and got an image on the handkerchief. Thus the woman became known as Veronica.

This is based on Luke 23:27, And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him. Not everyone was saying, “Crucify him.”

Many dearly loved him, but they were powerless. What could one lady do? Stop the Romans?

Stop the religious leaders? She did the only thing she realistically could do. She offered comfort. There were many people in that crowd that did not want Jesus to die. Did this event happen? We don’t know. But we do know that people cared.

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Statio ons 1 – 9 alo ong the walk are marked in Roma an Numerals s on these brass ovals s.

S Station 7: Jesus Falls F the Second S Time T Jesu us falls a second time under u the weight w of the e cross and d probably the pain of being fflogged.

S Station 8: Jesus Speaks S to o the Wom men of Je erusalem m This station is based b on Lu uke 23:28, But B Jesus ssaid unto th hem, ‘Weep p not for me e, but w weep for yo ourselves an nd your chiildren.’ All the powerfu ul people we ere in charg ge. There w was n nothing they y could do. Don’t everr let yoursellf feel like a victim. You have acccess to the king a above all kings.

S Station 9: Jesus Falls F the Third T Tim me This station is th he small Co optic Orthod dox church h of St. Hele en. Further up the hill a and cclose to the e place of crrucifixion – Golgotha – Jesus fallss the third ttime. The n ninth station n is a adjacent to the Holy Sepulcher, th he tomb of Jesus. On the way to the station n, the road w winds a around the Coptic patrriarchate bu uilding, thro ough a narro ow alley.

T The Church h of the Holy y Sepulcher Loca ated within the t walled Old O City of Jerusalem,, the Churcch of the Ho oly Sepulchre ((spelled “Se epulchre” in n old Englis sh and “Sep pulcher” in n new English h) is also kn nown as the C Church of th he Resurrection by Ea astern Chris stians. The site is vene erated as G Golgotha (th he Hill o of Calvary), where Jes sus was cru ucified, and is said to a also contain n the place where Jesus was b buried (the sepulcher). As the purported site e of the resu urrection off Jesus, the e church ha as been a an importan nt Christian pilgrimage e destination n since at le east the fou urth centuryy. Today, it also sserves as th he headqua arters of the e Greek Ortthodox Pat riarch of Je erusalem. C Control of th he b building is shared s betw ween several Christian n churches and secula ar entities in n a complicated a arrangemen nt that has essentially remained unchanged u for centuries. It is also a multiple eccommunity church, home to Gree ek Orthodox x, Armenian n Roman C Catholic, the e primary ke eepers 228

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a and Coptic, Ethiopians s and Syriac c as second dary keepe ers. Anglica an and Prote estant Christians h have no perrmanent presence in the t church.

Some 700 years before Je esus, this arrea was be ing quarried due to the rising thre eat of tthe Assyrian ns (Hezekia ah’s Broad Wall). In th he middle o of the quarryy was an ou utcrop of ro ock rrejected by the stone cutters. c The e chapel at station # 10 0 is built ovver that outcrop. Psalm m 1 118:22–24, The stone which the builders b reffused is beccome the h head stone of the corner.

P Psalm 118 is what you u were singing going in nto the temp mple. This iss the LORD D's doing; it is m marvelous in i our eyes. This is the e day which h the LORD D hath made de; we will re ejoice and b be glad in it. Here, it was an area a outside e the city that became a place of crucifixion..

T The Six Scripturral Requ uirements for th his Place e to be tthe True e T Tomb off Jesus In Luke’s Gospel, more e than one person went into the ttomb. Acco ording to sccripture, you u must h have all six of these re equirements s for this to be the corrrect site.

1 1. It must be a rich man’s m tomb.. Matthew 27: 57 Whe en the even ning was co ome, there came a an of Arimatthea, name ed Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' discciple. rich ma 229

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It must be a new tomb where e no one wa as ever bur ied. Matthe ew 27:60 And laid it iin his ew tomb. own ne It must be a rock hewn h tomb.. Continued d in Matthe ew 27:60,… …which he h had hewn o out in the rock k.

It must be near a garden. g Acc cording to John J 19:41 Now in the e place whe ere he was s a garden;; and in the e garden a n new sepulccher, where ein was nevver man crucified there was yet laid d.

You mu ust bend ov ver to see in nto the tomb. Accordin ng to John 2 20:5 And h he stooping g down, and loo oking in, saw w the linen clothes lyin ng; yet wen nt he not in.

The tom mb must be e large enou ugh for morre than one e person. Acccording to o Luke 24:1– –3 Now up pon the firstt day of the e week, very y early in th he morning,, they came e unto the sepulch her, bringing g the spice es which the ey had prep pared, and certain othe ers with the em.

And the ey found the e stone rollled away fro om the sep pulcher. And d they ente ered in, and d found not the body of the e Lord Jesu us.

If you u feel like you y are des scending intto the churcch, you are. You are d descending into tthe trough cut c into the rock quarry y during the e time of He ezekiah. Th his is what I want you to imagine. Th his is not a church. c Thiis is no less s than six d different com mmunities in one build ding.

C Calvary is very v hygienic today.

In the e early second century y, the site of o the prese ent Church had been a temple off A Aphrodite. Several S anc cient writers s alternative ely describe e it as a tem mple to Ven nus, the Ro oman 230

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equivalent to Aphrodite. Eusebius claims in his Life of Constantine that the site of the Church had originally been a Christian place of veneration, but that Hadrian, due to his hatred of Christianity, had deliberately covered the Christian sites with earth and built his own temple on top.

Although Eusebius does not say as much, the temple of Aphrodite was probably built as part of Hadrian's reconstruction of Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina in 135, following the destruction of the Jewish Revolt of 70 and Bar Kokhba's revolt of 132–135.

Emperor Constantine I, in about 326, ordered the temple to be demolished and the soil – which had provided a flat surface for the temple – to be removed. He instructed Macarius of Jerusalem, the local Bishop, to build a church on the site. The Pilgrim of Bordeaux reports in 333: “There, at present, by the command of the Emperor Constantine, has been built a basilica, that is to say, a church of wondrous beauty.” Constantine directed his mother, Helena, to build churches upon sites that commemorated the life of Jesus Christ. She was present in 326 at the construction of the church on the site, and involved herself in the excavations and construction.

Constantine's church was built as two connected churches over the two different holy sites, including a great basilica, the Martyrium, meaning “witness” with the traditional site of Golgotha, meaning “skull”, a place of death or crucifixion, in one corner, and a rotunda, called the Anastasis meaning the "Resurrection".

There is a cave in this church behind Calvary. Randy said it is one of the most authentic and touching places in all of Israel. Actually, there are two caves behind Calvary, but the other one is a cistern. This is called the Chapel of the True Cross. When Helena came here in 326 to build a church, she wanted to know where Calvary was and the cave of the tomb. When they started digging to lay the foundation, they were surprised to find fill dirt.

Almost 200 years earlier, Hadrian had leveled this site with fill dirt so he could build his pagan temple of Aphrodite on top. The earliest believers met in a cave behind Calvary. If Calvary is where we think it is, it is one of the earliest places the church met. When the church first started, it originated below ground and in danger of its own life. The church was started by a group of men who were prepared to die for their faith. During the excavation, frescos telling stories of people risking everything to get here were found.

Think about the disciples that Friday when Jesus died. The pain of losing the Messiah was so great they forgot about the power at the pool of Siloam that allowed a blind man to see. They forgot about the power at the pool of Bethesda that allowed a lame man to get up and walk. They forgot the power that allowed thousands to be fed from a little boy’s lunch box on the northern shores of the Sea of Galilee. They forgot the power that allowed Moses and Elijah to come back from the dead and stand with them as he was transfigured. They forgot the power that allowed a limp and lifeless Lazarus to get up when Jesus called him. All this they forgot because it was Friday. Jesus was dead and all their hope was gone.

But it would not always be so. It started with Stephen, who was killed for preaching the Gospel. James was next, killed for preaching the salvation through the cross of Christ.

Mathias was tied to a cross then draped with carrion and eaten by vultures. Jude Thaddeus was crucified and shot to death with arrows. Nathaniel was skinned alive. Phillip was hanged from a column near the Temple Mount. Andrew was crucified in Egypt. Matthew was beheaded in Alexandria. John Mark was dragged to death behind a chariot. James Alpheus was thrown to his death from Herod’s palace. Thomas was speared to death by a mob. Simon the Zealot was sawed into pieces while alive. Peter and Paul were taken by Roman authorities who were feeding Christians to the lions. We have a record that says Paul was 231

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b beheaded south s of Rome along a main shop pping districct. Peter, byy one acco ount, had to watch h his beloved wife cruciffied and crie ed out to he er, “Remem mber Christ!! Remembe er Christ!” T Then w when it was s time for hiim to die, he did not fe eel worthy to o be crucifiied like Jessus, so he a asked tto be crucifiied upside down d making him sufffer many tim mes longer..

If som meone com mes to you and a says th hat they willl believe in your Jesuss if you just show tthem proof, tell them th hat it is not just an empty tomb th hat we base e our faith u upon. It is th he cchanged liv ves of the disciples who had every ything to lo ose, and notthing to gaiin by lying.

T The earliestt believers gave up ev verything to stand and say, “We h have seen tthe Prince o of Life, a and he has changed us.” u Try to connect c to a cave where the earlie est believers came to w worship. Th hey knew th hat everything they bellieved in the eir heart co ould cost them their livves. If I d didn’t know Jesus was s alive and that t someb body was go oing to saw w me into pieces, I wou uld p probably ch hange my story. If I saw w Jesus raiised from th he dead, I kknew he wa as alive. Be eyond tthe veil of death’s d doorr, I am goin ng to face him and I ca annot go the ere having denied him m.

T There was a very old bishop b in Smyrna. The ey wanted tto kill him, b but gave him m a chance e to rrecant. He said, s “Seve enty and six x years I have served JJesus Chrisst and he has never de enied m me. How ca an I deny hiim now? What W are you u asking me e to do?”

We stand s here and think a hardship is s not g getting yourr favorite ce ereal at bre eakfast. A lo ot of tthe Christian church th hroughout history h has paid in blood to believe b wha at we believ ve. It is time e for tthe church in i America to stand up p and live itts ffaith, so tha at other peo ople can see e that we are a not just in the cheap c seats s. We are willing w to sta and a and pay ourr price too. We stand on o the shou ulders o of believers s who paid with w their blood. This is not a cave. It is a church. It is a special church.

S Station 10 0: Jesus is Stripped of His s G Garments s At this station, Jesus J was stripped s offf his cclothes. Ma ark 15:24 "A And when th hey had cru ucified h him, they pa arted his ga arments, ca asting lots upon u tthem, what every man should tak ke.”

S Station 11 1: Jesus is Nailed d to the Cross R Reaching th he place of crucifixion,, the hill called G Golgotha, Jesus J is nailed to the cross. c This station is lo ocated insid de the Churrch of the Holy H th S Sepulcher, just j behind d the wall off the 10 station.

C Chapel of the Strippiing of Je esus’ Garm ments.

S Station 12 2: Jesus Dies on the t Cross s Jesu us is crucifie ed and dies s on the cro oss, ending His agony.. The location of this sstation 1 12 is a Gree ek Orthodox crucifixion n altar insid de the Churrch of Holy Sepulcher. A silver disk with a central ho ole, underne eath the alttar, marks the spot wh here the cro oss stood. M Matthew 27 7:51 A And, behold d, the veil of o the templle was rent in twain fro om the top tto the botto om; and the e earth d did quake, and a the roc cks rent.

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A crack in the e rock of Callvary. Traditiion says it w was caused a at the death o of Jesus.

S Station 13 3: Jesus is Taken Down fro om the C Cross This station is also a located d inside the Church of the Holy Se epulcher. A According to o ttradition, the e body of Jesus was la aid on this stone afterr being remo oved from tthe cross. A As per JJohn 19:40, Then took k they the body b of Jesu us, and wou und it in linen clothes with the sp pices, a as the mann ner of the Jews J is to bury. b 233

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S Station 14 4: Jesus is Laid in n the Tom mb This is the final station of Via V Doloros sa, located in round ha all ("rotunda a"). The tom mb of JJesus is loc cated in a smaller struc cture in the e center of tthe circle. T This building g has been d destroyed, rebuilt, r destroyed, and d rebuilt ma any times. T There is abssolutely notthing left off the ttomb of Jes sus. There is i a building g where the e tomb wass once locatted. Howevver, there are o other tombs s on the pro operty proving that this s was indee ed some typ pe of ceme etery. The b best p piece of evidence that the tomb of o Jesus wa as in this are ea is the fa act that othe er first-century ttombs are still s preserved inside th he church. Called C the "Tomb of Joseph of A Arimathea," these b burial shafts s (kokhim) are clearly from the tim me of Chrisst's death and thus atte est to some e kind o of burial gro ound in the area.

What I want you u to remem mber is whatt happened d here. Som me place witthin a hund dred ffeet of wherre we were standing, God G change ed humanitty, redeeme ed creation, and set up the rrestoration of all things s.

G Garde en Tom mb This is another place that remembers r s Calvary, th he garden, and the tomb.

A Archaeologically, it is weak, w but itt is strong fo or memorie es since it iss both a ga arden and a tomb.

P People have been com ming to the Church of the t Holy Se epulcher for 1,800 yea ars. We did not kknow much about the Garden Tomb until Ge eneral Gord don had a d dream in 18 883. It is a ccharitable organization o n that has been b in exis stence for 117 years.

Loca ated in Jerusalem, outs side the city y walls and d close to th he Damascu us Gate, Th he G Garden Tom mb (also kn nown as Go ordon's Calv vary) is a ro ock-cut tom mb considerred by some e to be tthe site of th he burial an nd resurrec ction of Jesu us, and to b be adjacentt to Golgoth ha. This is in d direct contra ast to the trraditionally revered site for these events â&#x20AC;&#x201C; th he Church of the Holy S Sepulchre. There is no o mention of o the Garde en Tomb ass the place of Jesus' b burial before e the th 1 19 century y. The asso ociation lists s these reas sons as wh hy this is po ossibly site ffor the burial of C Christ.

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It is loc cated outside the city y walls.

It is loc cated near a busy roa ad.

The Ro omans liked d to crucify people p nea ar a busy ro oad because e of the ma aximum imp pact it had on people going by.

John 19:17 And he h bearing his h cross went w forth in nto a place ccalled the p place of a sskull, which is s called in the t Hebrew w Golgotha.

It was a Jewish place p of execution. Many M believe e this was tthe area wh here Stephe en was stoned..

Mount Moriah is the place where w Abraham was tested to sacrifice Is saac. c have been sacrifficed more or less in th he same arrea.

Jesus could There is i a garden n nearby There is i a tomb cut c from ro ock

ntains that this as a po While th he British Garden G Tom mb Associattion only offficially main ossible ssite for Chriist's burial, some tour guides are convinced of its authe enticity. The ey note the e large ccistern nearrby, which proves p the area must have been a garden in n Jesus' da ay. They alsso m maintain tha at there are e marks of Christian C ve eneration a t the tomb, also provin ng its sancttity tthroughout the age.

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Garden G Tom mb

mb I nside the Garden Tom

Commun nion Service in the Garde en

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T The Wester W rn Walll The most famou us site of th he Jewish Quarter Q is T The Western Wall, a 10 00-foot porrtion of tthe massive e 1,600-foot retaining wall w built by y King Hero od in the firsst century B BCE, expan nding tthe Temple Mount thatt once conttained the Temple T of JJerusalem a and, today, home to th he D Dome of the e Rock and d Al-Aqsa Mosque.

M The wall w consists of huge ashlar a blocks that havve been in p place for tw wo millennia a. It is a m major pilgrim mage site for f Jewish people p from m all over th he world and d a major to ourist attracction ffor people of o all faiths. It is a holy ssite for Jew ws because it is as clos se a as they can n get to their last templle.

T The yearnin ng to come back to Isrrael a and for a ne ew temple is all wrapped in these few w stones. Visitors can insert handw written pray yers into the e interstices between b the e stones.

T Twice a yea ar, at Passo over and R Rosh Hasha anah, the prayers p are ccollected an nd buried on The Mount o of Olives. Women W and men are sseparated. Upon leaving the wall, yyou should take a few steps back k w without turn ning your ba ack to the w wall, to show w your resp pect.

N Numerous worshipper w s continually rread the entire book off Psalms in ffront of the wall, while Bar Mitzva ahs a are joyfully celebrated here.

Th he Western W Wall. Men pra ay on the leftt side. On th he other sid de of the walll is the Dome e of the R Rock.

The e Western Wall. Women pray on the rright side

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E Exclu usive e Vis sits A Ancient Tem mple Mount M t F From The Jewish J Pray yer Book: Because e of our sins we were exiled from m our countrry and baniished from our land. W We ccannot go up u as pilgrim ms to worsh hip Thee, to o perform o our duties in n Thy chose en house, tthe g great and Holy H Temple e which was s called by Thy name,, on accoun nt of the hand that wass let lloose on Th hy sanctuarry. May it be e Thy will, Lord L our Go od and God d of our fath hers, mercifful K King, in Thy y abundant love again to have me ercy on us and on Thyy sanctuaryy; rebuild it sspeedily and magnify its i glory.

This may be part of the confusion tha at is modern n day Israel. When you u are in the e JJewish Holy y Land, you u hear the Muslim M call to prayer th hrough out the day “lo oud and clea ar” ffrom the minarets. Jeru usalem is a multi-natio onal, dense ely populate ed area with h tourists visiting ffrom all ove er the world. It is crowd ded. Randy y called it “T The Press” because it is difficult tto find q quiet time to o reflect and pray.

Almo ost 3,000 ye ears ago, Solomon S (97 70–930 BC CE) built a g grand templle. It was d destroyed by b Nebucha adnezzar in 586 BCE and a rebuilt after the exxile. The ne ew temple w wasn't a as extravag gant or impo osing as its s predecess sor, but it sttill dominate ed the Jeru usalem skyline.

H Herod greatly improved the Temp ple Mount, but it was la ater destroyyed by the Romans in n 70 A AD. Today, it is the home of the Western W Re etaining Wa all, also kno own as the W Wailing Wa all, on tthe outside of the Tem mple Mount wall, and th he Dome off the Rock o on the insid de of the wa all. It sseems weirrd to be rem minded to no ot take a Bible to this ssite since itt is a Muslim m area on tthe inside. And to add to th he confusio on of this modern day Israel, this Muslim are ea is openlyy p protected by Israeli security. ount is on th he bedrock of Mount The Temple Mo M Moriah. Mount Moriah is the locattion where Abraham w was told to sacrifice Isaac, and he e obeyed God G and ttried to do itt. God supp plied a ram caught in the t brush.

T The ram wa as sacrificed d to God an nd not Isaac. This is a also the sam me location n where God sacrificed d his Lamb..

T Think aboutt it. Who is writing this s story?

We were w at the most sensitive place in the world d o of two religions – Islam m and Judaism. The tw wo most important ev vents to a Jew J are the e destructio on of the ttemple/not having h a temple, and the t World War W II h holocaust.

Acco ording to the e Book of Ezra, E constrruction of tthe Second Temple wa as authorized by Cyrus The G Great and began b in 53 38 BCE afte er the fall off the B Babylonian Empire the e year before. It was completed 2 23 years latter, on the third t day off Adar, in th he sixth yea ar o of the reign of Darius The T Great (12 ( March, 515 BCE), Our friend Levi d dedicated by b the Jewis sh governor Zerubbab bel and 238

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remained an important structure throughout the time of Persian Empire. The temple narrowly avoided being destroyed again in 332 BC when the Jews refused to acknowledge the deification of Alexander the Great of Macedonia. Alexander was allegedly “turned from his anger” at the last minute by astute diplomacy and flattery. After the death of Alexander in June 13, 323 BCE and the dismembering of his empire, the Ptolemies came to rule over Judea and the Temple.

Under the Ptolemies, the Jews were given many civil liberties and lived contently under their rule. However, when the Ptolemaic army was defeated at Panium by Antiochus III of the Seleucids in 198 BC, this policy changed. Antiochus wanted to Hellenize the Jews, attempting to introduce the Greek pantheon into the temple. A rebellion ensued and was brutally crushed, but no further action by Antiochus was taken. When Antiochus died in 187 BC at Luristan, his son, Seleucus IV Philopator, succeeded him. However, his policies never took effect in Judea, since he was assassinated the year after his ascension.

Antiochus IV Epiphanes succeeded his older brother to the Seleucid throne and immediately adopted his father's previous policy of universal Hellenization. The Jews rebelled again and Antiochus, in a rage, retaliated in force. Considering the previous episodes of discontent, the Jews became incensed when the religious observance of the Sabbath and circumcision were officially outlawed. When Antiochus erected a statue of Zeus in their temple and began sacrificing pigs, their anger began to spiral.

When a Greek official asked a Jewish priest to perform a Pagan sacrifice, the priest (Mattathias) killed him. Antiochus predictably resorted to the same bloody reprisals. In 167 BC, the Jews rose up en masse behind Mattathias and his five sons to fight and win their freedom from Seleucid tyranny. Mattathias, now called “The Hammer”, re-dedicated the temple in 165 BC and the Jews celebrate this event to this day as a major part of the festival of Hanukkah.

The temple was rededicated under Judas Maccabaeus in 164 BCE. Over a century later, around 20 BCE, the building was renovated by Herod the Great to include the retaining walls we see today. It became known as Herod's Temple. During the Roman occupation of Judea, the Temple remained under control of the Jewish people. It was later destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE during the Siege of Jerusalem.

Fifty years after the Muslim conquest by Omar of Jerusalem in 638 AD, Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ordered the construction of an Islamic shrine, the Dome of the Rock, on the site of the Temple. The shrine has stood on the mount since 691 CE as the al-Aqsa Mosque, from roughly the same period (710 AD), also stands in the Temple courtyard.

There was a time when the Dome of the Rock was open to the public. It cost $9.00 to go inside and you had to remove your shoes. Shlomo said the interior was very beautiful. But it is closed to the public now. The mosque is also closed to non-Muslim visitors.

Over the last several years, all evidence that the Jews were ever present here is being systematically destroyed.

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The Do ome of the Ro ock – 691 AD D – marks the e ascension of Mohamm mad

Al Aqsa Mosque – 710 A AD

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Yad Vashem As the Jewish peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s living memorial to the Holocaust, Yad Vashem preserves and safeguards the memory of the past while imparting its meaning for future generations.

Established in 1953 as the world center for documentation, research, education and commemoration of the Holocaust, Yad Vashem is today a dynamic and vital place of intergenerational and international encounter.

The origin of the name is from a Biblical verse, And to them will I give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name (Yad Vashem) that shall not be cut off.

Located at the western region of Mount Herzl on the Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem, Yad Vashem is a 45-acre complex containing the Holocaust History Museum and such memorial sites as the Children's Memorial and the Hall of Remembrance and the Museum of Holocaust Art. The complex also includes sculptures, outdoor commemorative sites such as the Valley of the Communities, a synagogue, archives, a research institute, library, publishing house and an educational center, and The International School for Holocaust Studies.

Gentiles, who saved Jews during the Holocaust at personal risk and not for money, are honored by Yad Vashem as "Righteous among the Nations." Some 2,000 trees are planted in the name of these people. Although we have all heard of Arthur Schindler, most were simple villagers or farmers who went out of their way to help.

With over 800,000 visitors in 2009 alone, Yad Vashem is the second most visited tourist site in Israel after the Western Wall. Every Israeli soldier is required to tour Yad Vashem. Why? If you ever need to fight for your country, it is important that you know what you are fighting for.

The Holocaust History Museum No words can accurately or adequately describe what we experienced here, so I will just mention some historical notes about the site.

The new Holocaust History Museum, opened in March 2005, is a prism-like triangular structure. A main walkway connects the museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s galleries. It is 180 meters long, in the form of a spike, which cuts directly through the mountainside. Its stark walls are made of reinforced concrete and it covers an area of more than 4,200 square meters, most of which is underground. At the uppermost edge of the shaft is a skylight that protrudes through the mountain edge.

The design of the facility reinforces the story and imagery of the museum and is impressive in its own right. Visitors enter the museum near ground level. The sky and sunlight are readily visible through a skylight. The entrance features a movie with images depicting scenes of Jewish celebration and happiness in Europe prior to World War II. Visitors then proceed through a selection of galleries featuring different chapters, items and stories from the Holocaust. The hall emerges from the hillside, allowing visitors to approach a large window and balcony. Light is visible once again, offering a stunning view of Jerusalem.

The 10 exhibition halls are each devoted to a different chapter in the history of the Holocaust. Unlike the exhibition in the old museum, which was primarily composed of photographs, the new exhibition is a multi-media presentation that incorporates personal 241

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a artifacts don nated to Ya ad Vashem by Holocau ust survivorrs, the famiilies of thosse who perished a and Holocaust museum ms and me emorial sites s around th he world. Th he museum m combines the p personal sto ories of 90 Holocaust victims and d survivors and presen nts approxim mately 2,50 00 p personal ite ems, includiing artwork and letters s donated b by survivorss and otherss.

At the end of the experienc ce, visitors file past a m memorial d dedicated to o the six million JJews who perished p in the Holocaust. The ex xhibits are o organized in chronolog gical order, with ttestimonies and artifac cts accentuating the in ndividual sto ories highlig ghting the h historical n narrative.

The main hall is s composed d of two con nes: one 10 0 meters hig gh, with a rreciprocal w well-like ccone excav vated into th he undergro ound rock, its i base fille ed with watter. On the upper cone e is a d display featturing 600 photograph p s of Holoca aust victimss and fragm ments of the e Pages of T Testimony. These are reflected in n the water a at the bottom of the low wer cone, ccommemorating the victims whos se names rremain unkn nown. Surrounding the e platform is tthe circular repository, housing th he a approximate ely 2.2 milliion â&#x20AC;&#x153;Pagesâ&#x20AC;?â&#x20AC;? collected tto date, with h empty spa aces for tho ose yet to b be submitte ed. In total, there is roo om for six m million testim monies. Atttached is a study area a w with a comp puterized da ata bank where online e ssearches off Holocaustt victims' na ames can be b p performed on o the Centtral Database of Shoa ah V Victims' Names. g for th he day, Shlo omo wrote a Our guide b book, Legac cy Interruptted, which was w p published in n 2003. The e book was s in tribute to o tthe memory y of his fam mily, photogrraphed in V Vilna, Polan nd, in 1935. (See page e 244.) Of tthe 14 peop ple in the ph hotograph, 13 perished in the Holoc caust. Altho ough his uncle (far rright) surviv ved, he spent five yearrs as a P Prisoner of War (POW W). He passe ed away sseveral yea ars ago in Shreveport, S LA. The Holo ocaust Meno orah. The six x candles rep present one for e every million n Jews who perished.

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The Child drenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Memo orial.

The e rocks are broken b beca ause the lives s of 1.5 milli on Jewish cchildren were e cut short.

omoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s family y in Vilna, Po oland, 1935.

Shlo

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Hebrew Themes of the Wilderness The Wilderness What does the Wilderness mean to the person in the Bible? Almost every great Biblical person got their start in the Wilderness. God called Abraham into the Wilderness, but he called Moses from the Wilderness. Elijah was in the Wilderness. John the Baptizer was in the Wilderness. Even Jesus himself spent 40 days in the Wilderness where he was tempted. Paul got his start in the Wilderness – in Arabia. When you read your Bible remember that God speaks to those in the city, but shouts to those in the desert.

When you go into a place of barren wilderness, your life becomes extremely focused.

When you are in the Wilderness, you do not make big plans. You just try to meet the next need. I need water. I need food. I need shelter. These are the basic needs of man. It is God’s desire to reduce all your needs down to one need – Him. Psalm 90: Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Wherever you are God, I am home. Wherever you are, his rod and his staff comfort you.

A number of natural plants thrive in the desert. The rotem bush burns very hot because of the oil in its sap. Date Palms secrete an acid on the tip of their roots that allows the root to go through solid rock to search for water. The roots can travel up to 100 feet down. However, while the plant is searching for water it will not produce dates.

The Five Wildernesses in the Bible Just like the Eskimo have different words for snow, so Hebrews had many descriptions for the desert. Each desert looks very different. Listed below are the wildernesses from the south to the north.

1. Sin Wilderness Geographically it is an area mentioned by the Bible as lying between Elim and Mount Sinai.

Exodus 16: And they took their journey from Elim and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. In Biblical times, technically this area was outside of Israel.

2. Peron Wilderness The great and terrible wilderness where no man could live. To get to it you have go through Sur. It looks like a lunar landscape.

3. Zin Wilderness North of Peron. Numbers 13:21 So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath.

4. Negev Wilderness The Negev, which extends over Israel’s southern region, accounts for more than half of the country’s land area. Despite its desert terrain, the region has seen its fair share of history.

Abraham built his home in Be'er Sheva, and the Nabateans would pass through, riding camels laden with precious trade goods. For these and other reasons, the Negev has become one of Israel’s popular tourism sites.

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5 5. The Wild derness of Judea As the no orthernmos st desert, it is the green nest of the Wildernesss because it receives ssome rain. How wever, rains s bring flash h floods, an nd flash floo ods bring de eath. When n the Israeliites came into o the region n, they were e afraid of natural n watterways beccause they had not se een one that did not n kill.

An aquifer, a or o river, flows below the Mount of Olives. E Ezekiel talkks about a ttime w when the mount m will be e broken fro om the nortth to the so outh and wa ater will flow w forth and run d down to the e Dead Sea a and make the waters s of the Dea ad Sea swe eet. Ezekiel 47:8 Then said h he unto me, These wa aters issue out o toward the east co ountry, and go down in nto the dese ert, and g go into the sea: s which being brou ught forth in nto the sea, the waterss shall be he ealed. And d it shall ccome to pas ss, that eve erything tha at liveth, wh hich moveth h, whitherso oever the riivers shall ccome, sshall live: an nd there sh hall be a verry great mu ultitude of fiish, becausse these wa aters shall ccome tthither: for they t shall be b healed; and a everyth hing shall livve whither tthe river co ometh. And it shall ccome to pas ss, that the e fishers sha all stand up pon it from E En Gedi evven unto En neglaim; the ey shall b be a place to t spread fo orth nets; th heir fish sha all be accorrding to the eir kinds, ass the fish off the g great sea, exceeding e many. m

Altho ough in tim me The Dea ad Sea will be full of fish, rightt now it is q quite dead.

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The Wilderness W s is also a place p of refu uge. The crrack in the e earth’s surfface from M Mt. H Hermon to the t Dead Sea S is the deepest crac ck on the fa ace of the e earth. As yo ou go deepe er into tthis crack, more m and more m springs pop out. When W you llook at the landscape today, it ap ppears b barren, but in Genesis 13 and 14, the time of o Lot, it wass more like e a tropical g garden. In 1 S Samuel 22, 23, and 24 4, the Judea an desert will w be impo ortant to Davvid as Daviid is running g from S Saul. God is s teaching David how to be depe endent on h him and nott the people e he is leading.

G God was no ot going to give g David the kingshiip until Davvid learned to respect tthe office. Y You h have to resp pect the offfice before you get the e office.

As we w descend into the Jo ordan Rift, we w start to ssee the Dea ad Sea. If yyou were to o take m magnesium m chloride, sodium s chlo oride, potas ssium chlor ide, magne esium brom mide in their proper rratio, add water w and sh hake, you would w be ab ble to recrea ate the Dea ad Sea. There are a number o of industriall plants on both sides of the sea that t evaporrate the water and harrvest the cchemicals.

K Key Note: There T are a number off Wilderness Psalms – 18, 57, an nd 103.

The Caves of Qumran Q yielded the De ead Sea Sccrolls. Some e 930 docum ments were e found ves, but mo ost were in pieces because birds had used p pieces to m make nests. In the in these cav b beginning th here were10,000 piece es. A boy doing d home ework realizzed that the ey were not written o on paper bu ut on anima al skin which had DNA A. This technique allow wed the doccuments to be rreassemble ed.

You may remem mber that Jo ohn the Baptizer’s parrents, Zach hariah and E Elizabeth, ccame ffrom the hilll country ea ast of Jerus salem, prob bably in the Judean de esert. You w will also rem member tthat in Luke e 1:80, And the child grrew, and waxed w strong g in spirit, a and was in the desertss till the d day of his shewing s untto Israel.

It is thought t that the parents of John may m have b been elderlyy at his birtth and soon n died, tthus leaving g John to be e raised by y others. Sin nce the Esssene was th he only ado option agen ncy a available in the first ce entury, they may very well w have ra aised John. The Essene did not b believe in any physical pleasure. The Ess sene did no ot marry and d the only w way to grow w their Orde er was tto adopt. w level in the Dead Sea has dropped ovver the years as Israell and Jorda an use The water m more of the fresh wate er that flows s into it from m the Jorda an River.

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Isn’t this water beautiful? The Jorda an Mountai ns are to tthe east. T The white m material a around the shore is drried salt. Th he mountains on the JJordan side e are the M Moabite mou untains, w which are on average e 900 feett higher than on the Israel side e. The earrly rains are very d dangerous here. The water will collect an nd run dow wn these “V V” shaped valleys ve ery fast w washing out roads and d anything else e in its way. w

M Masad da M Masada (He ebrew for "ffortress") is s the name for a site of ancient pa alaces and fortification ns in tthe South District D of Israel on top of an isolated rock pla ateau, or ho orst, on the e eastern ed dge of tthe Judean Desert ove erlooking th he Dead Se ea.

M is 1,300 feet above a the D Dead Sea, or sea leve el. The mou untain The plateau of Masada tto the west, the site of the main Roman R cam mp and the rrampart, wa as 1,000 fe eet above th he D Dead Sea, but still belo ow sea leve el. The natu ural approa aches to the e cliff top arre very difficcult.

T The top of the t plateau is flat and rhomboid-s shaped, abo out 1,800 fe eet by 900 feet. There e was a ccasemate wall w around the top of the t plateau totaling 4,3 300 feet lon ng and 12 ffeet wide, w with m many towerrs.

The fortress f inc cluded store ehouses, ba arracks, an armory, th he palace an nd cisterns that w were refilled d by rainwa ater. Three narrow winding paths led from be elow up to ffortified gattes.

F From the ph hoto above, you can see s the rampart built ovver and thrrough the va alley by the e R Romans to access this s fortress as s well as th he rectangu ular remainss of the sieg ge camp (2 2/3 of tthe way dow wn right han nd side).

The earliest, go ood excavattion of this site s was be etween 196 62 and 1965 5.

U Understand dably, there were many y excited vo olunteers th hroughout IIsrael and a around the world.

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Altho ough you ca an walk to Masada M on a winding steep stairccase called d the Snake e Path, tthe quickest and easie est way is obviously o by y cable car.. The entire e summit off Masada w was e enclosed with a casem mate wall â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a double wall w with the e inner spacce divided into rooms. Its ccircumferen nce of 4,300 0 feet corre esponds exa actly to the "seven sta adia" in Josephus' d description. About 70 rooms, r 30 towers t and four gates were found d in the walll.

O Our Journey intto Masad da

1. Small bathhouse e 2. Heod's palace-villa 3. Storerrooms 4. Apartm ment buildin ng 5. Snake e-path gate 6. Casem mate-wall 7. Zealotts' living quarters 8. Underrground cistern 9. Southern bastion n e 10. Western palace one room 11. Thro 12. West gate 13. Syna agogue 14. Large bathhous se

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Our first f stop on n the tour is s #8 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a larg ge undergro ound cisterrn. It is 63 ssteps down. Too b bad I had a dirty lens when w I took k the photo inside the ccistern, butt it will give you an idea a of its ssize. est of This is the large M Masadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 12 cisterns. The cclosest source of fresh h water iss Ein Gedi, some 20 minutes m a away by bus. So the question iss, How did they get wa ater into these cisterns? c Th his area e experiences s rainfall ab bout ffive times a year. But when w it rrains, it pou urs. Channe els w were built to o direct the rain w water into th he cisterns. Once tthe cistern is i full, it is sealed s a and kept in total darkness to p prevent the formation of o b bacteria. Liffe is now po ossible o on Masada.

The next question is w who would want w to live e here?

It is 90 minu utes south of o JJerusalem by b bus. In the time o of Jesus, it could be a one- to ttwo-week jo ourney, dep pending iff you were going to Masada ((downhill) or o from Mas sada ttoward Jeru usalem (uph hill).

T This was a self-contain ned ccity, comple ete with palaces, b bathhouses s, storage areas, a w water cisterrns and a ssynagogue..

Masa ada was on ne of sseveral pala aces that Herod H b built. Herod d was so afrraid of h his people revolting r ag gainst h him that he was never more tthan eight hours h away from a ssafe retreatt. In this are ea, he h had Masada a, his palac ce in tthe New Te estament Je ericho. On the t other sid de of the D Dead Sea, in n the Jorda anian mountains, w was Machaerus. He allso had Cae esarea to th he west of JJerusalem and the He erodion to th he east o of Jerusalem m. Masada was a larg ger version of the Hero odion.

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View frrom the Sou uthern Basttion, #9, loo oking east ttoward the D Dead Sea.

IIntroduc cing Jos seph Fla avius The only written n source ab bout Masada (Hebrew for fortresss) is Joseph hus Flaviuss’ The JJewish Warr. Born Jose eph ben Ma atityahu of a priestly fa amily, Flavius was a young leade er at the o outbreak off the Great Jewish J Reb bellion against Rome ((66 CE) wh hen he was appointed g governor off Galilee. He e managed d to survive the suicide e pact of the e last defen nders of Jod dfat a and surrend dered to Ve espasian (w who shortly thereafter w was proclaiimed emperor) – even nts he d described in n detail. Ca alling himself Josephus s Flavius, h he became a Roman ccitizen and a ssuccessful historian. h Moral M judgm ment aside, his accoun nts have bee en proved llargely accurate.

A According to Josephus s Flavius, Herod H the Great G built th he fortress of Masada a between 3 37 and 3 31 BCE. He erod, an Idu umean, had d been mad de King of JJudea by his Roman o overlords an nd was h hated by his s Jewish su ubjects. Herrod, the ma aster builde er, “furnishe ed this fortre ess as a reffuge ffor himself.”” It included d a casema ate wall arou und the pla ateau, store ehouses, larrge cisternss ingeniously filled with rainwater, r barracks, b pa alaces and an armoryy. They had everything g they n needed.

Some 75 years after Herod d’s death, at a the begin nning of The e Great Up prising by th he Jews a against the Romans in n 66 CE, a group g of Je ewish rebelss, led by Ele eazar ben Y Ya’ir, the so on of M Matthew, ov vercame the Roman garrison g of Masada.

M Fo ollowing the e fall of Jeru usalem and d the d destruction of the Tem mple in 70 CE C by the Roman R Gene eral Titus, tthe rebels w were joined d by the 250

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zealots who had fled from Jerusalem. With Masada as their base, they raided and harassed the Romans for two years.

Did they come here to live in peace, or was this going to be the base from which the rebels and Zealots would try to retake Jerusalem? Since Rome did not tolerate resistance anywhere – even remote or distant resistance – the empire was intent on suppressing this uprising.

In 73 CE, the Roman governor Flavius Silva marched against Masada with the Tenth Legion, auxiliary units and thousands of Jewish prisoners-of-war. The Romans probably tried to take Masada immediately, but it was impossible. The Romans established camps at the base of Masada and built a circumvallation wall around the building, encircling it with camps on all sides. If they couldn’t storm the fortress, they would simply wait and starve them out.

Although the Romans waited and waited, the Jews would not surrender. In the meantime, the Romans implemented their Plan B. The western side is not as steep as the other sides of the fortress. They Romans constructed a rampart of thousands of tons of stones and beaten earth against the western approaches of the fortress. They used the local forest to build scaffolding on each side, then layered trees and dirt to build the rampart. Today, some 2,000 years later as the dirt erodes away, you can see the exposed wooden beams. They have not rotten because there is so little rain. They basically look the same today as the day they were laid down.

In the spring of 74 CE, the Romans began to move the battering ram up the rampart.

Bear in mind that the Jews have been watching this activity for almost a year. But now the end to this drama is in sight. Eleazar ben Ya’ir gathers the 966 people on Masada and gives a speech. This is the abbreviated version.

Eleazar ben Ya’ir’s Speech Since we long ago resolved never to be servants to the Romans, nor to any other than to God Himself, Who alone is the true and just Lord of mankind, the time is now come that obliges us to make that resolution true in practice...We were the very first that revolted, and we are the last to fight against them; and I cannot but esteem it as a favor that God has granted us, that it is still in our power to die bravely, and in a state of freedom.

The Zealots cast lots to choose 10 men who would kill the remainder of the Jews in the fortress. They then chose among themselves the one man who would kill the survivors. That last Jew would then kill himself.

No doubt the idea of taking your life or the life of another was a hard pill to swallow.

Suicide in Judaism is a sin. The alternative, however, was perhaps being forced to watch your wife being murdered or raped, or being enslaved for the rest of your life. After all, they had watched many thousands of Jews from the destruction of Jerusalem build the rampart for the Romans for almost a year. The Jews in the fortress had to make a decision. Is slavery an acceptable option to you? Is rape an acceptable option to you? Is being murdered by the Romans an acceptable option for you? You are now free to make a choice.

Since suicide in Judaism is a sin today, those who commit suicide are buried in a separate location in a cemetery to keep shame from falling on their family. When the Romans breached the wall they found 960 bodies.

Josephus Flavius dramatically recounts the story told him by two surviving women. The defenders – 966 men, women and children – led by the very charismatic leader Eleazar ben Ya’ir, decided to burn the fortress and end their own lives, rather than be taken alive. “And so met (the Romans) with the multitude of the slain, but could take no pleasure in the fact, 251

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tthough it we ere done to o their enem mies. Nor co ould they do o other than wonder a at the coura age of ttheir resoluttion, and att the immov vable conte empt of dea ath which so o great a nu umber of th hem h had shown, when they y went throu ugh with such an actio on as that w was.â&#x20AC;? w do we come c here? ? To the Jew w this is a vvery specia al place. They come he ere to So why p perform barr mitzvahs. The Wall is s also anoth her special place for b bar mitzvahs. When combat ssoldiers finish basic tra aining, they y come here e and walk up the Sna ake Path in full gear. W When tthey reach the t top, the ey take an oath o that the ey will give their lives for their co ountry. All so oldiers ttake that oa ath, but com mbat soldierrs do it on Masada.

M All officers in n the Israeli Defense F Force h have their commission c ning ceremo ony in Masa ada. It is no ot a suicide story to Isrraelis. The m message is that we will never let this happen n to us aga ain. We havve a state. W We have ha ad it for 6 63 years an nd we are not n going to give up on n it.

Masa ada to us is s an examp ple of resilie ence. These e people su urrendered their lives b but not ttheir hope that they wo ould have a free nation n with a cap pital in Jeru usalem. Wh hen archaeo ologists ccame here in the 1960 0s, they disc covered 10 0 pieces of cchards with h Hebrew names writte en on tthem near one o of the bathhouses b s. This was the lottery room. Such h a find is a an archaeollogistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s d dream. It is so rare to find f an artiffact that acc curately ma atches the history.

Looking wes st from the west w wall, you u can see the e rampart in the lower le eft corner and d the outline es of the Roman camp of Silv va, center lefft. Below: a c close up pho oto of the cam mp.

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If you u were a Je ew living in Masada, every which way you lo ooked, you would see R Roman cam mps. They are a still visib ble today. In the photo o above, yo ou also see the Snake Path.

A Also in this photo, you can see “w where you don’t d want tto be” when n it rains.

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To maintain interior coolness in the hot, dry climate of Masada, many buildings had thick walls constructed of layers of hard dolomite stone, covered with plaster. The higher northern side of Masada was densely built with structures serving as the administrative center of the fortress and included storehouses, a large bathhouse and comfortable living quarters for officials and their families.

King Herod’s Residential Palace Enjoying a splendid view from the northern edge of the steep cliff stood the elegant, intimate, private palace-villa of the king. It was separated from the fortress by a wall, affording total privacy and security. This northern palace consisted of three luxurious terraces connected by a narrow, rock-cut staircase. On the upper terrace, several rooms served as living quarters; in front of them is a semi-circular balcony with two concentric rows of columns.

The rooms were paved with black and white mosaics in geometric patterns.

The two lower terraces were intended for entertainment and relaxation. The middle terrace had two concentric walls with columns, covered by a roof, creating a portico around a central courtyard. The lowest, square terrace has an open central courtyard, also surrounded by porticos. Its columns were covered with fluted plaster and supported Corinthian capitals.

The lower parts of the walls were covered in frescos of multicolored geometrical patterns or painted in imitation cut marble. On this terrace was also a small private bathhouse. Here, under a thick layer of debris, the remains of three skeletons belonging to a man, a woman and a child were found. The beautifully braided hair of the woman was preserved. Her sandals were found intact next to her alongside hundreds of small, bronze scales of the man’s armor.

This was probably booty taken from the Romans.

The Western Palace The largest building on Masada, covering over 12,000 square feet (one acre), the western palace is located along the center of the western casemate wall, near the main gate towards Judea and Jerusalem. The palace served as the main administration center of the fortress, as well as the king’s ceremonial palace. It consists of four wings, an elaborate royal apartment, a service and workshop section, storerooms and an administrative unit.

In the royal apartment, many rooms were built around a central courtyard. On the southern side was a large room with two Ionic columns supporting the roof over a wide opening into the courtyard. The walls were decorated with molded panels of white stucco. On the eastern side, there were several rooms with splendid colored mosaic floors. One of these, the largest room, has a particularly decorative mosaic floor with floral and geometric patterns within several concentric square bands. This room may have been King Herod’s throne room, the seat of authority when he was in residence at Masada.

The Large Bathhouse Elaborately built, the large bathhouse probably served the guests and senior officials of Masada. It consisted of a large courtyard surrounded by porticos and several rooms, all with mosaic or tiled floors and some with frescoed walls. The largest of the rooms was the hot room (caldarium). Its suspended floor was supported by rows of low pillars, making it possible to blow hot air from the furnace outside underneath the floor and through clay pipes along the walls to heat the room to the desired temperature.

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T The Stora age Room ms Situa ated east an nd south off the bathho ouse, the sttorage room ms were lon ng and narrrow a and made from f large stone s slabs. Before the e excavatio ons, the storerooms co ould be d distinguishe ed from the air, but on the ground d they looke ed much likke a huge p pile of debriss. The rroofs and most m of walls s had long fallen in, th he result of both the inttended desstruction byy Z Zealots and d a series of later earth hquakes.

The usual way to t restore such s a place e would be to roll the sstones awa ay and dow wn the sslopes and then start digging. d The e excavatio on team deccided instea ad to first re estore the w walls of tthe storehouses and th hen dig. The excavato ors collected d all of the scattered sstones and used tthem to resttore the wa all. When no o slabs rem mained on th he ground, the restore ed walls of a all the sstorerooms turned out to be the same s height. or of the sto orerooms was w covered d with a thicck layer of a ashes and The original floo ccharred bea ams – clearr evidence of o the destrruction by Z Zealots to p prevent the supplies fro om ffalling into the t hands of o Romans. Restoratio on experts m managed to o glue mostt of the vesssel p pieces toge ether and, th herefore, th hey could te ell exactly w what was co ontained wiithin them. Each sstoreroom had h its own type of ves ssels: oil jars, wine jarrs, jars for fflour. Everyything seem med to h have been held h in an exemplary e order. o A few w storeroom ms were fou und comple etely emptyy. This m may be evid dence that the Zealots s had intenttionally left supplies th here intact, tto show Ro omans tthat they ha ad not died just through lack of fo ood.

A Artifacts Among the man ny small find ds – most from f the occcupation pe eriod of the e Zealots – were p pottery and stone vess sels, weapo ons (mainly y arrowhead ds), remnan nts of textile es and of ffoodstuffs preserved p in n the dry cliimate of this area, pluss hundredss of pottery shards, some w with Hebrew w lettering, coins and shekels. s Of sp pecial intere est among the pot sha ards of amp phora used for the imp portation of wine ffrom Rome (inscribed with the na ame C. Sentius Saturn ninus, consu ul for the ye ear 19 BCE E), is o one bearing g the inscrip ption: To He erod King of o the Jews Seve eral hoards of bronze coins c and dozens d of ssilver sheke els and half--shekels ha ad been h hidden by th he Zealots; the shekallim were found in supe erb conditio on and reprresent all th he yyears of the e Revolt, fro om year one e to the verry rare yearr five (70 CE) when the Temple w was d destroyed.

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In the e area in fro ont of the northern n palace, 11 sm mall ostraca a were unco overed, eacch b bearing a siingle name. One reads "ben Yaiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;r" and could d be short ffor Eleazarr ben Yaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ir, the ccommanderr of the fortress. It has s been sugg gested that the other 1 10 names a are those off the m men chosen n by lottery to kill the others o and then t themsselves, as re ecounted b

by Josephuss.

T Two Mikv vahs Two mikvahs were w found in the northern and the e southern corners of Masada. First, a adjacent po ools with a conduit c to bring b rainwa ater into the em were found at the ssouthern en nd of M Masada. Th his structure e seemed very v likely to o be a mikvvah, filled w with natural water, as p prescribed by b the Hala akhic rules. When the news abou ut the find w was announ nced, orthod dox T Talmudic sc cholars bec came espec cially interested since no mikvah had yet be een discove ered ffrom the very period when w the Ha alakhic rules s were writtten. Two re espected Rabbi specia alists a arrived at Masada M to visit v the find d and climbe ed the hard d Snake Pa ath under th he broiling ssun.

T They went into i the two o pools to check their measureme m ents. Meanwhile, the a archaeologists w waited with baited brea ath. At the end e of a tho orough stud dy, the Rab bbis emerge ed and a announced that the miikvah excellently met all a the stand dards.

T The Syna agogue Built by Zealots on the bas se of the ea arlier Herod dion constru uction, a synagogue w was d discovered in the north h-western corner c of Ma asada. At that time thiis was the e earliest kno own ssynagogue and the on nly one from m the time of o the Secon nd Temple.. This synagogue also o sserved the Jews J who lived in Mas sada during g the Revolt.

It is possible p tha at the building also served as a ssynagogue in the Hero odion period d.

H Herod certa ainly had en nough Jewish family members m to care for their place off worship. A rrectangular building, oriented tow ward Jerusa alem, four tiers of plasttered bench hes and columns w were built along a the wa alls. This sy ynagogue is s considere ed to be the e best exam mple of the early ssynagogues s â&#x20AC;&#x201C; those th hat predate the destruc ction of the e Temple off Jerusalem m in 70 CE. In a corner c was a room forr ritual objec cts. More th han 700 osstraca (postt-it notes in p pottery) werre found, mostly m writte en in Hebrew or Arama aic. Some w were found near the sstorerooms and may have h been connected c with w the Z Zealot's ratiioning syste em during the t siege. Eleven E sma all o ostraca werre found, different from m the others s found, ea ach inscribed with a single name. One e of the inscribed nam mes iss "Ben Yairr". It is prob bable that th hose were the t ostraca a u used in the casting of the t lots bettween Ben Yair and th he ssurviving 10 0 people.

Right beside the e synagogu ue is this ro oom on M Masada. A scribe is wrriting the To orah the wa ay it was do one tthousands of o years ago. Everything must be e natural. Th he p parchment is natural. The T ink is made m the way it was m made in bib blical times. The pens are either reeds r or ffeathers. To o write the Torah T the way w it used to be done e w would take about four years. Now w think of th his. A few m miles d down the ro oad, at Qum mran, the Es ssene was writing the b books we call the Old Testament, or today Dead D Sea S Scrolls. This s was how they were doing d it, but without cchairs, desk k, and the air a condition n.

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T The Perio od of the Zealots The luxurious palaces and d small num mber of dwe elling roomss in the Herrodian build dings ccould not ea asily be ada apted into dwellings d fo or the Zealo ots. As a result, they w were used a as ccommand posts p and public buildings. Their decorative d architectura al parts we ere dismantled for b building ma aterials and furniture. The T rooms and a courts of the sma all palaces w were partitio oned to ccreate dwelllings for larrge numberrs of Zealott families. O One example of the strriking contrrast b between the e Herodian luxury and d the povertty of the Ze alots was tthe corner o of a beautiful H Herodian mosaic m in the e Western palace, which was covvered by an n edge of a crude ston ne sstove or cup pboard.

Mostt of the Zea alots were housed h in th he double w wall and in sshacks of m mud and sm mall sstones adjo oining the wall w and builldings. In ro ooms that h had not bee en burnt, remains of th heir d daily life we ere strewn on o the floorrs: clothing, leather, ba askets, glasss, stone an nd bronze o objects.

S Some room ms looked as s if though they had ju ust been ab bandoned. In the secto or of the wa all close tto the assau ult ramp hu undreds of Roman R ballistic stoness the size o of grapefruitt were disco overed.

E Ein Ge edi Ein in n Hebrew means m “spring”.

E Ein Gedi me eans “sprin ng of the willd g goats”, or “s spring of the young go oats”.

A Although we e have read d about Ein n Gedi m many times s in the Bible, we have never ttaken the tim me to find out o what it was, w or w where it was. It is an oasis o on the e sshores of th he Dead Se ea. We ate lunch tthere then walked w dow wn to the De ead S Sea for a sw wim.

In Jo oshua 15:62 2 – And Nib bshan, a and the city y of Salt, an nd Engedi; six s ccities with th heir villages s. Ein Gedi is e enumerated d among the cities of the T Tribe of Jud dah in the desert d Betha araba.

E Ezekiel 47:1 10 – And it shall come e to p pass, that th he fishers shall s stand upon it ffrom Enged di even unto o Eneglaim; they sshall be a place p to spre ead forth ne ets; ttheir fish sh hall be acco ording to the eir kkinds, as the fish of the e great sea a, e exceeding many, m show ws that it wa as, or w will be a fish herman's to own.”

Laterr, King Dav vid hides in the d desert of En n Gedi (1 Samuel S 24:1 1-2) 1 And it came to pass, when w Saul was rreturned fro om following g the Philisttines, tthat it was told t him, sa aying, Behold, 257

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David is in the wilderness of Engedi. 2Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats.

The Song of Songs 1:14`– My beloved is unto me as a cluster of campfire in the vineyards of Engedi, speaks of the "vineyards of En Gedi.

The Dead Sea What an experience this was. The water here is basically unusable. So, if you have the opportunity to go for a swim, what do you expect?

It was November 11, and we had just finished lunch at the restaurant in Ein Gedi at the Dead Sea beach. Don’t think sand here. Think rock. Bring your water shoes so you can walk.

The water contains 34 percent salt compared with the Atlantic, which contains about seven percent salt.

The water was full of minerals and although it did not smell, it was a little oily. At some point the water would get on your lips and you could taste the salt. Could you float?

Absolutely! On your stomach, on your back, balled up in a fetal position, or any other way you wanted to. On top of all that, the water was warm. It was a very unique experience.

The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years. Biblically, it was a place of refuge for King David. It was also one of the world's first health resorts (for Herod the Great), and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from balms for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilizers. People also use the salt and the minerals from the Dead Sea to create cosmetics and herbal sachets.

Without a doubt one of the world’s most amazing places, the Jordan Rift Valley is a dramatic, beautiful landscape. Once the waters reach the Dead Sea, they are land-locked and have nowhere to go, so they evaporate, leaving behind a dense, rich, cocktail of salts and minerals that supply industry, agriculture and medicine with some of its finest products.

The leading attraction at the Dead Sea is the warm, soothing, super salty water itself – some 10 times saltier than sea water, and rich in chloride salts of magnesium, sodium, potassium, bromine and several others. The unusually warm, incredibly buoyant and mineralrich waters have attracted visitors since ancient times, including King Herod the Great and the beautiful Egyptian Queen, Cleopatra – all of whom luxuriated in the Dead Sea’s rich, black, stimulating mud and floated effortlessly on their backs while soaking up the water's healthy minerals along with the gently diffused rays of the Jordanian sun.

In Ezekiel 47:8-9 there is a specific prophecy that the sea will "…be healed and made fresh", becoming a normal lake capable of supporting marine life. A similar prophecy is stated in Zechariah 14:8, which says that Living waters will go out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea (likely the Dead Sea) and half to the western sea (the Mediterranean)...

Various sects of Jews settled in caves overlooking the Dead Sea. The best known of these are the Essene of Qumran, who left an extensive library known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. The town of Ein Gedi, mentioned many times in the Mishna, produced persimmon for the temple's fragrance and for export, using a secret recipe. "Sodomite salt" was an essential mineral for the temple's holy incense. The Roman camps surrounding Masada were built by Jewish slaves. They received water from the towns around the lake.

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D Dead Sea a Facts 

The De ead Sea is 1,388 feet below sea lev vel, and the e lowest ele evation on the surface of the earth.

At its deepest d poiint it is 1,23 37 feet deep.

It is 42 2 miles long g and 11 miles wide.

The se ea has a de ensity of 1.2 24 kg/L, making g swimming g difficult bu ut providing a relaxing floating experie ence.

It lies in the Jorda an Rift Valle ey, and its maiin tributary is the Jorda an River.

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Q Qumra an We did d not visit this site, but it was fre equently me entioned d during our trip. t This is some gene eral informa ation that w was taken ffrom the Intternet.

Qum mran is an archaeologic cal site in th he West Ba ank. It is lo ocated on a dry platea au about a mile inland from the n orthwestern sshore of the e Dead Sea a. It is best known as the settleme ent nearestt tto the caves s in which the t Dead Sea Scrolls were w hidde n – caves iin tthe sheer desert cliffs and beneatth, in the marl m terrace..

From m 1947 to 1956, over 900 9 scrolls have been found.

E Extensive excavations e s of the settlement hav ve been und dertaken ffinding ciste erns, Jewish h ritual bath hs and cem meteries. Ma any scholarrs b believe the location to have been home to a Jewish secct, the E Essene. The scrolls we ere found in n a series of o 11 cavess around the e ssettlement, some acce essible only y through th he settleme nt.

T The Cav ves at Qu umran Full-s scale work at the site began after Roland de e Vaux and d G G. Lankeste er Harding in 1949 exc cavated wh hat became e known as C Cave 1, the e first scroll--bearing cave. A curso ory surface survey tha at yyear produc ced nothing g of interestt, but contin nued interesst in the sscrolls led to a more su ubstantial analysis a of the t ruins att Qumran in n 1 1951 – an analysis a tha at yielded trraces of potttery closelyy related to o th hat found in Cave 1. Thiss d to intensivve excavatiions at discovery led he site overr a period off six season ns th un nder the dirrection of de Vaux.

De Va aux interpre eted his find dings att Qumran b based, at lea ast in part, upon th he information containe ed within th he Dead Sea Sccrolls, whicch continued d to be n the nearb by caves discovered in hroughout h his excavations. De Va aux th co oncluded th hat the rema ains at Qum mran w were left by a sectarian n religious co ommunity. U Using his e excavationss as w well as textual sources,, including tthe D Dead Sea Scrolls S and the historic cal accounts recorded by Pliny th he Elder, Ph hilo and Fla avius JJosephus, De D Vaux's conclusion c was that th he inhabitan nts of the siite were a ssect of high hly rritualistic Je ews called the t Essene – a conclu usion that ha as come to o be known as the "Qu umranE Essene Hyp pothesis." This T hypothesis sugge ests that the e Essene, e established the site in the d desert for re eligious purrposes.

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De Vaux V interprreted the ro oom above locus 30 ass a "scripto orium" because he d discovered inkwells the ere. A plasttered bench h was also discovered d in the rem mains of an upper sstory. De Va aux conclud ded that thiis was the area a in whicch the Esse ene ccould have written som me of the Dead Sea Sc crolls. De V Vaux also interpreted locus 77 as s a refectorry – a comm munity dinin ng hall – ba ased o on the disco overy of numerous setts of bowls in the nearrby "pantry"" of lo ocus 89. Ad dditionally, de Vaux in nterpreted many m of the e numerouss stepp ped cisterns s as "mikva ah, or Jewissh ritual baths, due e to their sim milarity to several stepped d and partitiioned ritual baths s near the Jerusalem J T Temple Moun nt. ng the scrol ls, De Vauxx Regardin cautio ously stated that "man nuscripts w were copie ed in the sc criptorium off Qumran...

We may m also su uppose... th hat certain works s were com mposed at K Khirbet Qum mran. But b beyond this we cannot go." He believed the Essene la ater hid the e scrolls in tthe nearb by caves when w they fe elt their safe ety was in d danger.

Howeverr, while we tthink of Qumran as jusst many caves, an exten nsive comm munity was built above e the caves..

D Dead Sea Scroll - part of Isaiah Scroll (Isa 57:17–5 59:9)

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Rooms on the e western siide of the m main buildin ng at Qumra an.

Lo ooking westt over the w water system m.

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Bedouin The Bedouin lived in tents and traveled as nomadic tribes, much as the ancient Israelites would have done. Their shepherds tend flocks in the wilderness, just as King David did when he was a young boy.

In Bedouin tradition, guests are treated with great honor. Visitors – even strangers – are provided with the best they can offer. The Bedouin would fight to their own death to defend their guests from any harm.

The amazing hospitality of the Bedouin was probably common behavior to the ancient Israelites. When David wrote that the Lord “prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies, my cup overflow” he probably drew on imagery from his everyday life.

A Parade Cast your mind back to day one at Caesarea, when we discussed how the Romans loved a parade. The spectacles were designed to remind you that being part of the Roman Empire was a good thing. It is interesting to note that a parade in Jerusalem started the Great Uprising – or Great Revolt – in 66 CE. The governor of Jerusalem asked the people of Jerusalem to stand beside the road and applaud the incoming Roman soldiers. The RJs certainly were less than excited about this.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, going back to the time of Paul, the Pharisees and Sadducees were trying to keep the peace. Herod Agrippa II was their peace partner.

However, the Pharisee sensed blood in the water. They thought that if there was a revolt, the poor and common people would follow them and they could take control of both the synagogues and the temple, which was controlled by the Sadducees.

As the soldiers got closer to Jerusalem, people started to line the streets. Instead of cheering and welcoming the men, the people started booing. Eventually someone threw a stone and hit a Roman soldier. That was the beginning of the end. The Romans were allowed to pursue the people and kill anybody that they caught. Some 3,600 people died that day.

Most were trampled to death trying to get into the gates of Jerusalem.

Because of a combination of bad military decisions by the governor of the area, turmoil in Rome with the death of Nero in 68 followed by a succession of four emperors in one year, Rome was not committed to the destruction of Jerusalem until 69 CE. Vespasian became emperor and left his son, Titus, in Jerusalem to “restore peace”. In those times, that pretty much meant, “destroy everything.” Jerusalem fell in 70 CE. The final place where the flag came down was Masada in 73 CE. The downfall started with a simple parade and a guy throwing a rock.

Herod Agrippa abandoned the peace party and went with the war party. Agrippa II is the one that intersects with Paul and says, “he could almost be a Christian.” If he had been persuaded, many things, like the destruction of the temple, may not have happened. It is an interesting story in the book of Acts as Paul is making his way toward Rome.

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A Salt Covenant In the Bible, it is important to understand that salt is used more as a statement of loyalty and not so much as a statement about being a preservative. By Numbers 18, the Israelites had been delivered out of Egypt, whined about everything, and had faith in nothing.

This disobedience cost them another 38 ½ years in the desert. By Numbers 18, the land they were heading to had already been partitioned. Each tribe knew where they were going except the Levites. They were given a city.

Imagine if you are a farm-based society and all you get out of God’s inheritance is a city. To you, that may seem like a good thing, but to a Levite it was probably an insult or a slight. In Numbers 18, God tells the Levites that if they take care of His people, He will take care of their sons’ inheritance. Numbers is very encouraging to anyone in ministry. You will never out give your God. Numbers 18:19 Whatever is set aside from the holy offerings the Israelites present to the Lord I give to you and your sons and daughters as your regular share.

It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the Lord for both you and your offspring.

In 2 Chronicles 13:5, after David dies, his great grandson is standing against the king of the north and says, Do you not know that God has given the kingship to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt?

So the Levite had a covenant with God. If they took care of God’s people, God would take care of them. David also had a covenant with God. If David followed God, God would take care of his family line. A covenant of salt is a covenant where people take loyalty one with another.

Matthew 5:13, Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

People would pick up salt from the edge of the Dead Sea. They would take this mudball and pick out the salt as and when they needed it. When all the salt had been removed, all that was left was a pile of dirt with a high salt content, which they would then toss out onto the street, thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

Mark 9:50 is the cross reference for Matthew 5:13. Salt is good: but if the salt has lost his saltiness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.

This gives an entirely different understanding of salt. Have salt in yourself and be at peace with one another. Why do you put pretzels on a bar? You do it to make people thirsty.

Jesus was saying that the loyalty to one another would cause others to want to hear their message. The greatest single hindrance in religion today is the lack of salt between believers.

That is why some couples still like to get married with salty hands. Paul wrote in Colossians 4:6, “Let your conversation (speech) be always full of grace, seasoned with salt (loyalty).”

Here is the question: How is the salt between us?

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uins living their t simple e life. Today y sheet mettal has repla aced tents. But in this same The Bedou photo o you have power p lines s beside the e highway, b but not one going into the Bedouiin commun nity. This ph hotograph is only a few w miles outs side of Jeru usalem. Wh hat a contrast in liffestyles.

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C Cred dits T The peop ple, places and fac ces that made m ourr pilgrima age so sp pecial

Randy an nd Dottie Sm mith

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Joan Keen K (cente er)

Dan Busey (cente er)

o Ben-Ashe er Shlomo

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Photo P o Gallery C Caesa area

The outside e wall of the theater (left ) and the intterior. In the time of Hero od, the theate er wall would d have been three le evels high. Over O time, the upper leve el was remov ved and used d in other construction p projects, main nly housing.

The Hippo odrome â&#x20AC;&#x201C; on nce a stage for chariot races 269

A Byzanttine wall. No otice the slits for arche ers. Openin gs on the lo ower wall were sewers s that drained intto the tidial moat.

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M Mountt Carm mel

First da ay lunch sto op on the Carmel Mountain Range e. The first day was the only day w we experienced any ra ain.

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The doors to the e Church off the Annunciation in N Nazareth tell the life sto ory of Jesus s 272

Insid de the Churc ch of the An nnunciation n

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From Kibbu utz, Nof Ginn nosaur

Kibbutz Nof Ginnos saur

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Looking down to oward the Se ea from the Church C of the e Beatitudes s, Sermon on n the Mount.

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Ca aperna aum

This was s â&#x20AC;&#x153;street lev velâ&#x20AC;? in the time of Jesus. Notice th he dark basalt rock of tthe first cen ntury synagog gue under th he white sto one of the ffourth centu ury synagog gue.

T The floor in the synago ogue in Tibe erias. Look to the rightt and you w will see anotther mosaic c below th his one.

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Head waters of the e Jordan Riv ver at Tel D Dan.

Fire Sa alamander, Tel Dan Na ture Reserv ve.

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You asce end the Hero odion on the outside, b ut descend d on the ins side.

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outh Wall of the Temple e Mount. Th he 710 AD A Al Aqsa Mos sque is in th he center.

So

In the Chu urch of the Nativity (ab bove and be elow), the c arved wood d behind the e framed piicture looks s dark and monochrom m me until it is photograp hed. Then iit comes to life in color.

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Falafel street vend dor

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